A few months back your ZSC command sent out a call to all authors and artists requesting stories, art work, and articles The Yellow Brigade has answered the call. When Carol contacted me with her article, I knew right away with the topic of cadaver dogs that her article would be made of win.
Cadaver Dog Training on the Rise as Zombie Apocalypse Threatens
Guest Post by ZSC Member, Carol Ward – Yellow Brigade
We’ve all seen the heart wrenching photos and footage of rescue and recovery canines hard at work after a natural or a man made disaster. These incredibly disciplined and highly trained animals are the eyes and ears, the sight and scent, of the dedicated men and women who work with them. In time of need they are put to the test and are able to identify distant moans, very slight movements, and minute odors in the air. Rescue canines, like their bloodhound relatives, are bred for a very specific purpose – find life. Cadaver dogs, on the other hand, have a wonderful knack for sniffing out the walking dead.
These days we cannot be prepared enough in the event of a zombie apocalypse. We have our go bags by the door, we target shoot once a week, we even park furthest from the store front for the added exercise. Why do we feel the need to face this possible, nay, probable, disaster alone as a race of humans? Animals in general, and dogs specifically, are able to sense when something is not quite right with humans. Much like reacting to sudden shifts in air pressure when Mother Nature is planning her wrath, dogs are highly sensitive to erratic behavior and down right disgusting smells in humans.
Although some would attribute the increase in cadaver dog training as a direct result to the increase in natural disasters, others are not so sure. The expectant zombie apocalypse weighs heavy on the minds of many animal enthusiasts. Animal shelters are welcoming the influx of canine adoptions – mutts are known for their even temperament and ease of learning. There’s something to be said about Sean Patrick Flanery choosing a highly trained canine as his weapon of choice. This human for one thinks he’s using his brains – something we all hope he retains control of for a long, long time to come.
If you’re considering your options for companionship in the uncertain days ahead, look no further than your local animal shelter. I for one will welcome the mile head start I plan to reap from my own dogs – be we downwind or not.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Carol for her insightful article. *CROSSBOW SALUTE*
All submissions will be carefully reviewed and responded to, and revisions may be requested.
And this is where I get to rattle off all of the small print stuff like: submitting your work to the Zombie Survival CrewTM provides tacit consent for the Zombie Survival CrewTM to publish and promote your work as a part of the Zombie Survival CrewTM site. No payment will be given to any person for their submission and no payment will be accepted by the Zombie Survival CrewTM to publish any individual’s work. The Zombie Survival CrewTM will not be held liable for any copyright infringements should the work submitted not be the express original work of the submitter, but the infringement will be born by the submitter. By submitting your work to the Zombie Survival CrewTM you agree that you are the owner of the copyright to the material. And if for any reason you have lied to us about the copyright ownership, the Zombie Survival CrewTM reserves the right to send a horde of zombies to your doorstep to give you your just desserts.
Yellow Brigade Commander Jinxie G has a special promotion over on her website starting today, and it’s all about raising awareness for breast cancer!
As a Zombie Survival Crew Commander, and the crew’s top Amazon, Jinxie is very dedicated to this cause because it has affected more than a few of the women in her family, as well as friends and their families. For the entire month of October, she will be making her survival bracelets in pink & black and pink & white, with all proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
Just look at these beauties. You know you want one!
If you would like to order one of these special survival bracelets, please head on over to her website Jinxie’s World and place your order. Not only does she have a post up on her blog today, which we urge you to read, but there is also a page dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness.
In addition to the survival bracelets, Jinxie is also donating all proceeds from the October sales of her most recent book NEMESIS to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
Nemesis, from Running Ink Press, is marked at the special price of $1.99 for all of October. Available in KINDLE, PDF, RTF, HTML, LRF, PALM DOC, AND PLAIN TEXT ON SMASHWORDS, & BARNES & NOBLE and KINDLE format on AMAZON & AMAZON UK & AMAZON DE.
October’s bony knuckles are rapping on our front door. Hundreds of thousands of people will be lining up, eager to have the wits scared out of them at local haunted houses. TV stations are running horror movie marathons designed to make sure you lose sleep at night.
And the Zombie Survival Crew has a few events in store for its members to make sure that y’all are ready to face your fears.
Don’t miss the chance to meet your ZSC commanders face-to-face in Florida:
Halloween weekend we have not one, but two events for crew members to participate in. We fully encourage your to gear up and take place in the 2011 Halloween Zombie Event, a live-action scenario where you can chose between playing a zombie or a survivor. This is the perfect opportunity to test your skills in a safe manner before the Zombiepocalypse catches you unprepared. Go to their website to find a participating city near you.
For crew members unable to make it to the live-action 2011 Halloween Zombie Event, don’t worry. Commanders LK and RC have been wracking their brains (mmm… brains…) and developed an online version of the event. For more information, read here and keep an eye on this site for rules, regulations, and suggested role-play strategies for the online 2011 Halloween Zombie Apocalypse.
Want to know more about how to participate in the LIVE 2011 Halloween Zombie Event? Joseph Tremblay, the originator of the event has put together the below instructional video to help you plan your halloween zombiepocalypse.
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Don’t forget that if you are unable to participate in person, we’ll be tearing it up on Twitter. For more information, read about the virtual event here.
Your Green Brigade Commander IronE Singleton has done something wonderful for the premiere of The Walking Dead. That’s right, not only is there a countdown on his website to the premiere of season 2 that will air on October 16th, but he’s given the fans of TWD a song!
We in the Command Center encourage you to head on over to IronE’s website and have a listen, and then become our ZSC Street Crew that we love so much by telling everyone you know about it!
Lt Blue Brigade Commander Anthony Guajardo explains the reasons for his choices of essential Go Bag items… But in order to see what the reasons are, you’ll need to login and if you are not a registered member, please take a few moments and register for the site. The links for both the login and the Member Registration can be found in the sidebar to the right.
After a semi-hostile takeover bid, and nearly being run down, you would think your Zombie Survival Crew Commander-in-Chief would know better than to ask Yellow Brigade First Lieutenant Sean Patrick Flanery for battle technique sessions.
Well, he is an expert in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so it should hardly be any surprise that this PSA from Sean almost knocked me down.
We’ve been talking about the three day zombie extravaganza called the 2011 Halloween Zombie Event and how you can participate in person. If you missed the video teaser about it, check it out here. The command of the Zombie Survival Crew is excited about the opportunity to test our brigades strengths in a mock zombiepocalypse and look forward to fielding all of the reports during the event to keep all our members up to date with how everyone is faring. But when Joseph Tremblay first approached us about partnering with him to support the event, the Oracle (Purple Brigade Commander, LK Gardner-Griffie) posed the question: “But what about those who don’t have enough people close by to play in person or those who are unable to do so? Do we deny them the opportunity to participate?” She then followed it with the suggestion of going back to the ZSC roots and hosting an online portion of the event. And we’re finally ready to reveal what Orange Brigade Commander, RC Murphy has cooked up. So, take it away RC!!!
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This is the moment we have been preparing for. The undead have vacated their graves and are on the hunt… for us. They will not stop. Very little can destroy them. You are the last line of defense for mankind. Now is not the time to realize you aren’t ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.
On October 29th through October 31st, the world as you know it will come to an end. Your city, Grizzly City, is under attack by hordes of hungry, newly-risen zombies. Survivors must band together to fight them off and escape to safety outside of the infested city.
If you think you are up for the challenge, join us on Twitter for a 3-day Role-play scenario that puts you in the first 72 hours of the Zombie Apocalypse. To join you must first decide if you want to be a Survivor or a Zombie. Once you’ve decided, apply the appropriate Twibbon image to your avatar (we will be revealing the twibbons soon). With your designation in place all you have to do is use the official Halloween Zombie Apocalypse hashtag in your tweets, #HZA11. Follow the hashtag via Twitter’s search function to immerse yourself in the action.
Each day of play will last a full 24 hours. The action will unfold thusly in conjunction with the live events hosted by the 2011 Halloween Zombie Apocalypse site.
Day 1 – Zombie Outbreak: The first zombie sightings are reported in the city. In response, the Survivors begin to execute their escape plans, utilizing information broadcasted on TV.
Day 2 – Survival: The Survivors band together and establish safe zones within the city while the Zombies dog them at every turn. These attacks breed more undead, increasing the size of the attacking hordes.
Day 3 – Fight to the End: The city is overrun. Survivors are attacked more and more frequently. The only way to survive is to abandon the city. They flee or succumb to the zombies.
We understand that most participants will be unable to take part during all 72 hours of the #HZA11 Twitter event. Should you need to leave the role-play for any amount of time, switch out your Survivor or Zombie Twibbon image with the Idle image. This conveys to other participants that you are unable to interact or fight, but will return to play at some point.
The city, Grizzly City, has been divided into sectors. Participants may utilize these sectors while setting up their Safe Havens, planning raids for supplies, or arranging a location to battle a Zombie opponent. The hashtag for each sector will look like this – #HZA11S4.
Below is the map we will be using throughout the event. Study it well. Preparation may be your best defense when the zombies are on the hunt. More information on how to play is posted here. (Click the map to make it larger.)
Zombie Survival Crew command has been working on the appropriate strategy for mobilizing the crew in the event of a Zombiepocalypse or other global cataclysmic event. Honorable Brigadier, JL Coburn (SAPPED), has amassed a great amount of data and provided it to the Oracle for her to sift through to come up with the best plan. While we plan to expand our escape routes globally, command determined that since the bulk of the ZSC loyalists are in the continental United States, that should be the starting point for the development of escape routes and resupply stations.
The Oracle started off working with bubble or cell concept, but then realized the benefits of switching to a grid concept. The map attached to this post shows the location of both the phase I and phase II resupply stations (Click the map to view full size). By applying a grid to the map of the United States, we broke the United States into 23 phase I sectors, which will then roll into 6 phase II sectors. The idea behind the resupply stations is that when we have been notified that mobilization is necessary, we grab our Go Bags and bug out — but where do we go? To the resupply station. Each brigade has different Go Bag essentials so that when all brigades meet at the resupply stations, each station will have the necessary supplies to support the community in the preparation to move on to the phase II stations.
We will provide more details and instructions involved with the full plan, but wanted to introduce the crew to the first set of resupply stations. Make sure you know where your resupply station is so you can start planning how you will get there. We cannot anticipate that we will have transportation means other than travel by foot, so factor that into your plans. In reviewing the map, if your location falls under one of the grid lines, you make the determination as to which resupply station is the one you will head toward. The resupply station locations are listed below: **Note** – The colors of the markers are not brigade specific — they are only indicative of the various resupply station groups.
North East Group (Blue)
Burlington, VT (Phase II site)
Cleveland, OH
Wilmington, DE
South East Group (Green)
Atlanta, GA (Phase II site)
Berea, KY
Kissimmee, FL
North Central Group (Red)
Duluth, MN (Phase II site)
Waterloo, IA
Bismarck, ND
Alliance, NE
South Central Group (Aqua)
Midland, TX (Phase II site)
San Antonio, TX
Monroe, LA
Springfield, MO
Liberal, KS
North West Group (Yellow)
Pocatello, ID (Phase II site)
Helena, MT
Yakima, WA
Lakeview, OR
South West Group (Purple)
Madera, CA (Phase II site)
Phoenix, AZ
St. George, UT
Anaheim, CA
To read more on all resupply stations, please go to our (for members only) Key Links under the Escape Routes/Resupply Stations section
A few months back your ZSC command sent out a call to all authors and artists requesting stories, art work, and articles The Yellow Brigade has answered the call. When Carol contacted me with her article, I knew right away with the topic of cadaver dogs that her article would be made of win.
Although some would attribute the increase in cadaver dog training as a direct result to the increase in natural disasters, others are not so sure. The expectant zombie apocalypse weighs heavy on the minds of many animal enthusiasts. Animal shelters are welcoming the influx of canine adoptions – mutts are known for their even temperament and ease of learning. There’s something to be said about Sean Patrick Flanery choosing a highly trained canine as his weapon of choice. This human for one thinks he’s using his brains – something we all hope he retains control of for a long, long time to come. 
We in the 
