Soldiers Zombie Hunting in Afghanistan

By: Global Post
Topics: Afghanistan ,; Global Post

This soldier has a Zombie Hunter emblem on his ammunition belt.

(Credit: Ben Brody for Global Post)

GlobalPost's Ben Brody reports on a strange book reading passion among soldiers fighting abroad.

A peek inside any airport bookstore will tell you that Americans want to read about vampires this summer. Vampire love stories, vampire hunting manuals, vampire comedies, classic novels rewritten to include vampires -- apparently anything sporting fangs and makeup will sell.

As usual, the military is developing a similar obsession, but not vampires. With the Army, it's zombies.

Dog-eared copies of Max Brooks' "World War Z," a first person account of the Great Zombie War, and his definitive undead-fighting manual, "The Zombie Survival Guide," are found wherever soldiers relax and oil their weapons.

One soldier showed me a huge, razor-sharp Nepalese Ghurka knife that weighed about seven pounds -- a lot of extra weight to carry on patrol. He explained that because killing zombies required a decapitating or skull-crushing blow, there was simply no better tool for fighting the undead in close quarters.

As uniforms and body armor become more and more covered in Velcro, Zombie Hunter patches have become hot sellers for tactical suppliers. At the German Post Exchange at Kandahar Airfield, that patch is continually sold out.

The problems of war against the undead have parallels with the problems soldiers face daily in Afghanistan. A zombie needs no food, water or equipment and pursues the living with implacable determination. For soldiers trying to defend a million dollar vehicle against a malnourished, illiterate man wielding a $40 roadside bomb, the similarity must be chilling.

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by jnostromo August 25, 2010 2:58 PM EDT: It shows a lack of maturity in the armed forces...what the hell is going on in the boot camps?; Reply to this comment


by billjomes August 24, 2010 7:08 PM EDT: "...illiterate man wielding a $40 roadside bomb, the similarity [to zombies???] must be chilling"
This has got to be one of the most raist, offensive, ignorant, xenophobic sentence I have read in a news story that was not from that pathetic warehouse of shlock, Fox News. Is this hack Brody reducing ahuman being to a soulless zombie? Well, that's America for ya--dehumanize the enemy so you can kill him, then kill him family and rape his daughter. Good job with the non-critical war-mongering propaganda.; Reply to this comment

by democracy5 August 24, 2010 10:06 AM EDT

Are you people all crazy?

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by ZORT_TEN January 5, 2012 5:43 AM EST: actually YES ANYONE who wears a uniform to protect my freedom, run into a burning building to save my life, answers the call to aid the sick and injured, wears a kevlar vest / sidearm and enforces the law and protects my rights.......WE ARE CRAZY, AND WOULD NOT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY :-)


by wyodutch August 24, 2010 8:18 AM EDT: Judging from the casualty figures... the Afghani fighters are also out there killing zombies.; Reply to this comment


by ouchitatom August 24, 2010 7:51 AM EDT: This is the very reason me and my family are not vacationing in the middle east this year. The midlle east used to be a great place for a zombie family to vacate and blend in but now this year we leaning more toward mexico where a good zombie can eat great and get stoned all for under 25 pesos!; Reply to this comment

by bingbong22 August 24, 2010 3:31 AM EDT

democracy5.......it is called gallows humor and it occurs when people deal with death or the chance of it everyday. The patches and books are no different than the 5-55 year old women clamoring for the Twilight series. lighten up...take a deep breath......and dont look now but the undead apocalypse is nigh!...bwaaaa ha ha ha!

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by democracy5 August 24, 2010 6:07 AM EDT: really foolish comment on your part.

by democracy5 August 23, 2010 7:10 PM EDT

I know that there's a lot of untreated PTSD, but are our troops becoming total psychos? This is grossly disturbing. No rational modern person believes in zombies.

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by jimbot1957 August 23, 2010 10:19 PM EDT: Alas! Zombies DO exist and are present even now and are being propped up by the Federal Reserve -- they're called "Banks"


by democracy5 August 24, 2010 5:02 AM EDT: jimbot1957: Well, you might have a point with that. ;-)

by democracy5 August 23, 2010 7:06 PM EDT

I know that there's a lot of untreated PTSD, but are our troops becoming total psychos? This is grossly disturbing. No rational modern person believes in zombies.

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by to_john August 23, 2010 7:10 PM EDT: duh. "For soldiers trying to defend a million dollar vehicle against a malnourished, illiterate man wielding a $40 roadside bomb, the similarity must be chilling."


by democracy5 August 23, 2010 7:32 PM EDT: No rational person believes in zombies. If our troops are becoming this crazy, they need to be brought home and treated for PTSD ASAP!