Conventional infantry tactics from 1945 certainly don’t work. We haven’t fought like that in forever.
Modern infantry tactics would be “Sit inside my nice warm armoured vehicle while the gunner shreds everything with a 25mm autocannon.” And I think that would work just fine against zombies.
Also any competent military shouldn’t have the slightest difficulty getting headshots on a slow moving target that isn’t trying to evade or use cover.
Out of curiosity, how do they shoot in your experience? I’ve never shot but have friends and family in the armed forces who’ve I’ve spoken about this to and I don’t doubt the military could win against a horde assuming they’re regular walking dead zombies and not left 4 dead ones. You don’t have to have perfect aim when you can unload at height level into a crowd.
I’m in the US military. The fact that qualifying on an M4 is 23 out of 40 tells you a lot. (Although my unit’s average is closer to 30ish)
Additionally, a very little amount of the military is combat arms roughly 15%. The other 85% supports the warfighter. I’m part of the 85%
This is why the US military is so logistically and maintenance heavy because we all support the 15%.
However shrapnel will cause a lot of damage and hopefully take out the brain with enough luck. The brain could still be alive without a body to support it.
Also depends on what kind of zombies we’re talking about. If it’s a zombie that still relies on oxygenated blood, then conventional tactics will still apply. However if the zombie only needs non-degraded muscles to keep moving, then it’ll take a while for tactics to change.
Most people in the military do a basic qualification that is pretty easy to pass (23/49 targets, at ranges from 25 to 300m); these aren’t head shots, these are just on the target. Once you’ve done that, and graduated from basic, depending on your specialty, you may rarely touch a rifle. Lots of former military people think that they’re good, just because they managed a single qualification, and that they know a lot about guns, but it’s often just fudd-lore. Spec ops guys and Marines tend to be more proficient overall, because they spend more time practicing. (TBH, a lot of the spec ops are very mediocre as far as competitive shooting goes, but they have a lot of other skills that are relevant to the military, and tend to refuse to give up.) Cops are often even worse; their qualifications are at short distances, with very lenient time standards.
Bear in mind that the kill-to-bullet ratio in Afghanistan was about 1:300,000; most shooting in the modern military is suppressive, rather than directed at a specific target.
Compare that to someone that’s a USPSA B class shooter, or someone that regularly shoots PCSL 2 gun matches; they will tend to outshoot a lot of retired military, because they tend to practice, and practice on a shot timer, a lot.
I have a very direct knowledge of military marksmanship - much moreso than probably 90% of the people in this thread - but in all fairness my hands on knowledge is with the Canadian military, and I’d forgotten that since we’re talking about zombie movies, we are of course talking about US soldiers. So not really the same thing.
Conventional infantry tactics from 1945 certainly don’t work. We haven’t fought like that in forever.
Modern infantry tactics would be “Sit inside my nice warm armoured vehicle while the gunner shreds everything with a 25mm autocannon.” And I think that would work just fine against zombies.
Also any competent military shouldn’t have the slightest difficulty getting headshots on a slow moving target that isn’t trying to evade or use cover.
You haven’t shot with people that were in the military, have you? :P
Out of curiosity, how do they shoot in your experience? I’ve never shot but have friends and family in the armed forces who’ve I’ve spoken about this to and I don’t doubt the military could win against a horde assuming they’re regular walking dead zombies and not left 4 dead ones. You don’t have to have perfect aim when you can unload at height level into a crowd.
Also, tanks.
I’m in the US military. The fact that qualifying on an M4 is 23 out of 40 tells you a lot. (Although my unit’s average is closer to 30ish)
Additionally, a very little amount of the military is combat arms roughly 15%. The other 85% supports the warfighter. I’m part of the 85%
This is why the US military is so logistically and maintenance heavy because we all support the 15%.
However shrapnel will cause a lot of damage and hopefully take out the brain with enough luck. The brain could still be alive without a body to support it.
Also depends on what kind of zombies we’re talking about. If it’s a zombie that still relies on oxygenated blood, then conventional tactics will still apply. However if the zombie only needs non-degraded muscles to keep moving, then it’ll take a while for tactics to change.
Most people in the military do a basic qualification that is pretty easy to pass (23/49 targets, at ranges from 25 to 300m); these aren’t head shots, these are just on the target. Once you’ve done that, and graduated from basic, depending on your specialty, you may rarely touch a rifle. Lots of former military people think that they’re good, just because they managed a single qualification, and that they know a lot about guns, but it’s often just fudd-lore. Spec ops guys and Marines tend to be more proficient overall, because they spend more time practicing. (TBH, a lot of the spec ops are very mediocre as far as competitive shooting goes, but they have a lot of other skills that are relevant to the military, and tend to refuse to give up.) Cops are often even worse; their qualifications are at short distances, with very lenient time standards.
Bear in mind that the kill-to-bullet ratio in Afghanistan was about 1:300,000; most shooting in the modern military is suppressive, rather than directed at a specific target.
Compare that to someone that’s a USPSA B class shooter, or someone that regularly shoots PCSL 2 gun matches; they will tend to outshoot a lot of retired military, because they tend to practice, and practice on a shot timer, a lot.
You’re wrong and you’re right.
I have a very direct knowledge of military marksmanship - much moreso than probably 90% of the people in this thread - but in all fairness my hands on knowledge is with the Canadian military, and I’d forgotten that since we’re talking about zombie movies, we are of course talking about US soldiers. So not really the same thing.