Military trainees have to be ready for anything—including the undead—according to a California security firm.
Starting next month, a 44-acre training site in San Diego will be converted into a mock battleground in the zombie apocalypse.
The San Diego-based HALO Corp., which was founded by former Special Operations personnel, provides high-end private security and caters to the U.S. government and Homeland Security personnel.
The company will offer an exercise to kill fictional zombies as part of its five-day Counter-Terrorism Summit in October.
The summit includes hands-on demonstrations, lectures and classes for more than 1,000 students from police officers, medical workers and government employees.
"They are going to see a lot of stuff go down," HALO president Brad Barker told the Military Times.
Barker was inspired to include zombie training in the counter-terrorism summit after the Center for Disease Control introduced a campaign designed to remind citizens and soldiers to be ready for everything, zombies included.
The scenario, which Barker calls the Zombie Apocalypse, will feature undead actors that will attack participating troops and medical workers. HALO has partnered with Strategic Operations, Inc., a firm that specializes in using special effects and realistic combat training, to enhance the experience.
The Counter-Terrorism Summit will also train participants in a number of far less dangerous scenarios, including cyber warfare and Mideast combat.
Brad Barker sees the future of warfare being on the Internet.
"The new battlefield is cyberspace, for sure," he told the Military Times.
