I just ordered the book. I appreciate you responding, but nothing seems to help me understand how tanks wouldn't just drive through. I get why the soldiers on the ground would be overrun by the sheer volume of the enemy, but it seems like tanks would just drive off.
I'm speculating. The tank was in the city, it's base and supply line were overrun. It's pretty typical of modern warfare, honestly. If you don't secure a supply line, you're sunk. This is a logical explanation. Honestly, I can't remember the details of WWZ enough to post it's reasoning. But the way they won back the world was by changing tactics and going for methodical headshots.
In this battle, they funnelled all the zombies in New York city down one street somehow. They started napalming and cluster bombing them and hitting them with heavy artillery on the ground. They kept on coming. Crawling, missing legs, on fire. There were literally millions. They feel no pain. They don't care if they're missing an arm. They just keep coming. To the point where every dead human in New York was walking down the same street trying to eat you. I remember someone trying to escape into a tank or something, but it wasn't a highlight of the offensive. It's been a while since I read it. I think there would get to a point where a tank couldn't run over millions of zombies crowded on one street.
There also wasn't any driving off. This was the military's plan to destroy the zombie infestation in New York. There wasn't a retreat until it was way too late.
just found the book online...here are some excerpts that address what you're asking,. the person being interviewed complains a lot about strategy..that leadership was prepared for typical WWII battle, but that wasn't what they were facing. and that tanks were lined up to look pretty for the media, but never really used ("those could have been useful", he says): WARNING: LANGUAGE IS NSFW Spoiler Dude, we had everything: tanks, Bradleys, Humvees armed with everything from fifty cals to these new Vasilek heavy mortars. At least thosemight have been useful. We had Avenger Humvee mounted Stinger surface-to-air missile sets, we had this AVLB portable bridge layer system, perfect for the three-inch-deep creek that ran by the freeway. We had a bunch of XM5 electronic warfare vehicles all crammed with radar and jamming gear and…and…oh yeah, and we even had a whole FOL, Family of Latrines, just plopped right there in the middle of everything. Why, when the water pressure was still on and toilets were still flushing in every building and house in the neighborhood? So much we didn’t need! So much **** that only blocked traffic and looked pretty, and that’s what I think they were really there for, just to look pretty. Zack started entering the first kill zone, the one designated for the MLRS. I didn’t hear the rockets launch, my hood muffled the noise, but I saw them streak toward the target. I saw them arch on their way down, as their casings broke away to reveal all those little bomblets on plastic streamers. They’re about the size of a hand grenade, antipersonnel with a limited antiarmor capacity. They scattered amongst the Gs, detonating once they hit the road or an abandoned car. Their gas tanks went up in like little volcanoes, geysers of fire and debris that added to the “steel rain.” I got to be honest, it was a rush, dudes were cheering in their mikes, me too, watching ghouls start to tumble. I’d say there were maybe thirty, maybe forty or fifty, zombies spread out all across this half mile stretch of freeway. The opening bombardment took out at least three-quarters of them. Only three-quarters. [Todd finishes his cigarette in one long, angry drag. Immediately, he reaches for another.] Yep, and that’s what should have made us worry right then and there. “Steel rain” hit each and every single one of them, shredded their insides; organs and flesh were scattered all over the damn place, dropping from their bodies as they came toward us…but head shots…you’re trying to destroy the brain, not the body, and as long as they got a working thinker and some mobility…some were still walking, others too thrashed to stand were crawling. Yeah, we should have worried, but there wasn’t time. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. vThe second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect.
more...again LANGUAGE IS NSFW Spoiler The second “steel rain” didn’t have half the impact of the first, no more gas tanks to catch, and now the more tightly packed Gs just happened to be shielding each other from a possible head wound. I wasn’t scared, not yet. Maybe my wood was gone, but I was pretty sure it’d be back when Zack entered the Army’s kill zone. Again, I couldn’t hear the Paladins, too far back up the hill, but I sure heard, and saw, their shells land. These were standard HE 155s, a high explosive core with a fragmentation case. They did even less damage than the rockets! Why is that? No balloon effect for one. When a bomb goes off close to you, it causes the liquid in your body to burst, literally, like a freakin’ balloon. That doesn’t happen with Zack, maybe because he carries less bodily fluid than us or because that fluid’s more like a gel. I don’t know. But it didn’t do ****, neither did the SNT effect. streets, around the houses, through them…so many of them, their moans so loud they echoed right through our hoods. We flipped our safeties off, sighted our targets, the order came to fire…I was a SAW3gunner, a light machine gun that you’re supposed to fire in short, controlled bursts about as long as it takes to say “Die mother****er die.” The initial burst was too low. I caught one square in the chest. I watched him fly backward, hit the asphalt, then get right back up again as if nothing had happened. Dude…when they get back up… [The cigarette has burned down to his fingers. He drops and crushes it without noticing.] I did my best to control my fire, and my sphincter. “Just go for the head,” I kept telling myself. “Keep it together, just go for the head.” And all the time my SAW’s chattering “Die mother****er die.” We could have stopped them, we should have, one guy with a rifle, that’s all you need, right? Professional soldiers, trained marksmen…how could they get through? They still ask that, critics and armchair Pattons who weren’t there. You think it’s that simple? You think that after being “trained” to aim for the center mass your whole military career you can suddenly make an expert head shot every time? You think in that straitjacket and suffocation hood it’s easy to recharge a clip or clear a weapon jam? You think that after watching all the wonders of modern warfare fall flat on their high-tech hyper ass, that after already living through three months of the Great Panic and watching everything you knew as reality be eaten alive by an enemy that wasn’t even supposed to exist that you’re gonna keep a cool ****ing head and a steady ****ing trigger finger? [He stabs that finger at me.] Well, we did! Westill managed to do our job and make Zack pay for every ****in’ inch! Maybe if we’d had more men, more ammo, maybe if we’d just been allowed to focus on our job… streets, around the houses, through them…so many of them, their moans so loud they echoed right through our hoods. We flipped our safeties off, sighted our targets, the order came to fire…I was a SAW3gunner, a light machine gun that you’re supposed to fire in short, controlled bursts about as long as it takes to say “Die mother****er die.” The initial burst was too low. I caught one square in the chest. I watched him fly backward, hit the asphalt, then get right back up again as if nothing had happened. Dude…when they get back up… [The cigarette has burned down to his fingers. He drops and crushes it without noticing.] I did my best to control my fire, and my sphincter. “Just go for the head,” I kept telling myself. “Keep it together, just go for the head.” And all the time my SAW’s chattering “Die mother****er die.” We could have stopped them, we should have, one guy with a rifle, that’s all you need, right? Professional soldiers, trained marksmen…how could they get through? They still ask that, critics and armchair Pattons who weren’t there. You think it’s that simple? You think that after being “trained” to aim for the center mass your whole military career you can suddenly make an expert head shot every time? You think in that straitjacket and suffocation hood it’s easy to recharge a clip or clear a weapon jam? You think that after watching all the wonders of modern warfare fall flat on their high-tech hyper ass, that after already living through three months of the Great Panic and watching everything you knew as reality be eaten alive by an enemy that wasn’t even supposed to exist that you’re gonna keep a cool ****ing head and a steady ****ing trigger finger? [He stabs that finger at me.] Well, we did! Westill managed to do our job and make Zack pay for every ****in’ inch! Maybe if we’d had more men, more ammo, maybe if we’d just been allowed to focus on our job… Break their spirit, that’s what every successful army goes for, from tribal face paint to the “blitzkrieg” to…what did we call the first round of Gulf War Two, “Shock and Awe”? Perfect name, “Shock and Awe”! But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologicallycan’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!
Why you are taking a demeaning tone is harder for me to articulate. No reason to be a smart ass. I apologize if I didn't have time to type out in detail the theory from the book as it's quite a lot as you can see from what Max just posted. But glad you are picking up the book. It's an awesome read. The audio book is cool too as each character is read by a different RL person instead of one guy changing his voice.
I asked for an explanation and your response was "read the book." Generally that is a pretty dismissive statement to make to someone asking a question.
For the sake of getting back on topic, you're right. My bad. So anyone have any ideas on what happened to Daryl's brother Merle? I'm surprised they didn't at least hint at what he might be doing.
Walking Dead Finale Breaks Ratings Records The ratings for "The Walking Dead's" just-ended first season have been such that perhaps AMC is wishing that it had lasted more than just six weeks. The anticipation for the season finale garnered six million viewers, according to the network, and it received the highest ratings of any basic cable show, ever, in the all-important 18-49 demographic. To put those numbers into perspective, October's season finale of "Mad Men" had an audience of 2.44 million, according to TVbytheNumbers.com. (On the other hand, that 18-49 number is very important, because the New York Post reported in 2007 that a post-"High School Musical 2" episode of "Hannah Montana," with much of its audience under 18, averaged 10.7 million viewers.) As hot as "The Walking Dead" is, it's not quite to the level of some episodes of "The Sopranos" final season, which on two occasions had around 13 million viewers. Still, the network says that "The Walking Dead's" average 18-49 viewership of 3.5 million for this season makes it the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the demographic. The big question is, now that the show has grown beyond its core fanbase, will the "Dead-heads" tune in once again next Halloween (the likely start date for season two), despite the long wait? What do you think? Share your comments below. I have a huge idea, but it's a big spoiler.
I think the fact that the group hasn't even discussed it since they went into Atlanta to search for him is a pretty big omission.
I'm blown away by the fact that there won't be any new episodes until October. Did they think that people wouldn't watch? That there wouldn't be a second season? Did they not hold out any hope that there'd be a demand for another season?? It's as if this totally took them by surprise.
I'm with you. And given the ratings, I wouldn't be surprised if they pumped something out in the meantime- some kind of side series, origin stories or whatever.
I hope the long ass wait time for season 2 doesn't hurt it's fanbase. A lot casual viewers will forget what happened in season 1 and that may cause them to bypass season 2.
Just spoiler it, I'm jonesin for a zombie fix, and it's not coming back till next year. Unless this idea involves people not yet introduced then I'll have to start up the comics.
this is very common with every AMC and HBO series. they rarely give a show more than a 6 episode first season. Breaking Bad and Mad Men are probably the 2 most critically acclaimed shows on tv, both also on AMC, were given 6 episodes first seasons.
Ok, but I'm going to water it down a little. Spoiler In a nutshell, Rick gains a nemesis in the form of a guy named The Governor who leads a different group of survivors. I think Meryl is going to be the Governor, although that's not how it goes down in the comics...You don't see the Gov before he appears. If you REALLY want more info, google 'walking dead the governor'
I think I understand what you're saying. Thanks for that, probably will start up the comics just cause though.
