What do you think is happening around the world in We're Alive?

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

Speaking of Montana.. in the AF we have Missle bases in most of the Northern Tier bases. Crews go out for 3 days at a time and stay in fenced in and very isolated silos/areas. You have the Security Forces guarding the spot and the missle crews below ground. Nothing would get to those troops while they were out. Some places are so remote you get dropped of by helo.
You'd have pockets consisting of 12 or more heavily armed and well trained security members here and there for every NT base.
Lets throw in people like WV coal miners and Oil Rig crews into the soup as groups who'd likely survive any initial outbreak.

[GodofInsanity]

As I read through this thread there are alot of very valid points on the possibility on how different pockets of survivers could have remained. Remoteness of there location, giving them time to prepare for the impending onslaught. Amount of defence as well as large amounts of soldiers, weapons and ammunition. I do think that any military base given the time to secure a part of there base so as to not be spread too thin could hold out very well. We can use the Colony as an example. Under attack they made there defensive line and have hundreds of people according to Marcus. The biggest problem I see would be the initail reaction on the soldiers as the deadheads attacked. They would probably lose alot of men due to the insanity and disbelief by being attacked by something already dead. Then you will have to deal with the deserters who will slip through the line in search of loved ones. Once a base has shored of the lines and have survived that initail onslaught, now comes to the problems of basic survival. Usin a base like Ft. Benning, where it was stated the was 200k soldiers. Lets say that 50k survived and are now holding the lines. Not counting if any non combatants made it to the base for there protection. Now how do you feed all those people. Sure there is going to be an ample supply of food and MRE's on base. But not 3 to 4 months supplies. Maybe it can be strechted by rationing but soon the base would have to begin to forage the surrounding countryside as well as any towns or cities nearby. I amsure there is some farming and livestock to be had but I think soon that large number of troops that held the line will become very hungry.
And to touch base on missle silos. I rmember reading somewhere once upon a time that the 2 men at the silo controls were supplied for 6 months rations and water to wait out any radiation of enemy missle attacks near there location. If they let the security detail join them, that would be quartered in time but still a month to hold out in a cramped missle silo is better than becoming zombie feed.

[Don Man]

I think the situation is the same well not as intense as L.A. but I think there is one safezone somewhere

[Cabbage Patch]

Fort Irwin really is a prime example of a military base that has a good chance of surviving the initial zombie attack. This is partly because it is very isolated, and partly because very few people know about it, so there is a chance that it would get enough warning to mobilize before the zombies could arrive. When I was stationed there it was a 45 minute drive from my quarters on the base to the closest residential neighborhood of the nearest city, Barstow. Even if someone in Barstow got infected and tried to drive to the base, the odds are that they would have turned long before they could complete the drive. And Barstow itself is pretty darned isolated. The base itself is surrounded by enormous tracts of undeveloped desert in just about every direction, so the only practical overland approach is via the Interstate to Barstow, then down the one long road from there to the main gate.

Fort Irwin itself has tremendous resources available to it for zombie defense. First, it's a training base with a comparatively small resident population, but an enormous amount of hardware and ordinance. Army units travel to Fort Irwin to conduct high intensity combat training, usually as a final act before they deploy overseas. They draw their vehicles and heavy equipment from large stockpiles maintained on the base for the use of rotational units, everything ranging from Humvees to tanks. There are large stockpiles of ammunition, military rations and fuel there to support the training efforts.

The base is self-sufficient in the key areas of water (from wells) and electrical power (from the largest solar electric power generating plant in the United States).

Fort Irwin is also a "fully instrumented range complex", which is a fancy way of saying that there are videocameras capable of watching almost everything that happens there. Every action by the training units is recorded, some by stationary cameras, some by roving camera crews, and some by a set of very large cameras located in observatory domes on the mountain tops. All the images from all the cameras are fed into a central command center, where they are used to help analyze and critique the performance of training units. These systems could easily be adapted into an early warning system to watch the base's perimeter.

The biggest challenges would probably be resupplying food and vehicle fuel.

[lectio]

Is the land suitable for growing vegetables and grains?

[Cabbage Patch]

Not in the least. The area is all desert, with a pretty high alkali content. You could probably set up gardens for very heat-tolerent crops, or maybe climate-controlled greenhouses in the Isreali style, but I can't imagine being able to grow enough food at Fort Irwin to feed a large number of people.

[cycogod]

how many people die first wave? 30-50% - there are 6.9 Billion people on earth. within a month maybe 75 -90% re-animated . there are 1-2 billion people in china another 1 billion in india. not very much is gonna survive for any length of time in those odds. World War Z scenario or Day by Day - not much hope against billions .

[Solanine]

I don't think Fort Irwin is a last stop for Michael and co. by any means. In the long run just doesn't seem suitable. But it would be easier than the tower if only a few of "them" have got there. Outlasting them would be my plan in Michael's shoes. Being able to produce food enough to feed them all won't happen over night but as they adjust and learn they will most likely be able to achieve that, if not they will have to resort to fishing, in an arid desert. Or starvation if you like to call it that.

[Grognaurd]

The almost insurmountable problem with U.S. agriculture is the specialization. We grow stuff at such an industrial scale with so much technology that it is not really helpful to a group of thirty. Their best bet is to identify a hippy commune. There are prpobably a couple in southern California. If they want to be agrarian, it will take years to get off the ground. It is a hell of a lot of work. It will require livingb off the land. But the problem there is the big industrial farms are really crappy ecosystems because they are so heavily dominated By one "something". No diversity.

[Solanine]

There must be smaller independent farms with a range of products though? I suppose this is the problem with western countries, we use technology as a chair or ladder to elevate us to greater and greater heights. When the ladder is kicked away we face a hard fall that we might not survive.