CONPLANN 8888
Multiple undead threat categories—radiation zombies, pathogenic zombies, space zombies, even weaponized chicken zombies!
CONPLAN 8888—officially “Counter-Zombie Dominance”—is one of the U.S. military’s most bizarre and brilliant training documents: a fully developed operational plan created by U.S. Strategic Command in 2011 to prepare commanders for a global crisis by using zombies as the perfect, politically neutral “fictional enemy.” According to the unclassified manual (USSTRATCOM, 2011) and its public description on Wikipedia (Wikipedia, CONPLAN 8888), the plan outlines a full-spectrum military response including quarantine operations, population protection, offensive strikes, and the restoration of civil authority. It breaks down multiple undead threat categories—radiation zombies, pathogenic zombies, space zombies, even weaponized chicken zombies—and organizes them into phased military actions modeled on real-world crisis doctrine. The document went viral after being uncovered online, inspiring breakdowns from creators like TheWhyFiles, YouTube, 2017, and deep-dive discussions all highlighting the surreal seriousness with which the U.S. military approached this hypothetical apocalypse. What started as a creative planning exercise has become legendary—a rare moment where real government doctrine reads like a Hollywood script, proving that sometimes truth really is stranger (and way more fun) than fiction.