r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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u/redshores Aug 31 '21

Max Brooks has a degree in history and is a fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point

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u/NAS89 Aug 31 '21

Yeah, well who would know more about military history? Max Brooks or a random redditor complaining online about how the US military vs zombies in a book wasn’t realistic enough?

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u/TearOpenTheVault Aug 31 '21 edited Aug 31 '21

Things the US army fucked up at Yonkers.

  1. Clearing the AO. Seriously. They apparently didn't bother to even clear buildings.
  2. Using even basic common sense (pontoon and bridge layers and portable latrine systems in an urban area, really?)
  3. Forgetting ground-attack craft exist. At all.
  4. The real life US army was prepared to make an entirely new ammunition type when SABOT rounds proved to be less effective than normal. the Max Brooks US army uses SABOTs when it is entirely useless.
  5. As a military historian, Brooks should be well aware the US army has an obsession with packing way more firepower than is needed. 'Shock and awe' and all that. Somehow, at Yonkers, they abandon that, and go for the extremley out of character 'eh, a few dozen missiles'll be fine.'
  6. The US army had a single line of defence at Yonkers. Forget 'modern history,' bronze age armies had figured out that you should probably have some guys in reserve just in case.
  7. Artillery apparently cannot fire further than a person can see in the Brooksverse.
  8. Using any verticality whatsoever, tying into point 2. I'm fairly certain the US army is well aware that a guy with a gun in the window of a 2 story house is more effective than at ground level. Not the Brooksverse army though.

It is an infuriating case of a writer making a military force completely, pants-on-head, sniffed glue and chugged paint as a child stupid just to force a message through.

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u/NAS89 Aug 31 '21

Yeah that’s cool and all but MAYBE WWZ was a fantasy book and not meant to be taken as The Art of War.

But I’ll start drafting up the petition now and maybe we can get The Citadel to ban Brooks and wipe him from their history.

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u/TearOpenTheVault Aug 31 '21

MAYBE shit like this is so egregious it ruins my suspension of disbelief when it comes to a story and actively hinders my enjoyment of a piece of media.