U.S. Military



The United States Military is an omnibus term for the unified military forces (or what remains of them) of the United States of America: the country that provides the setting for The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead (TV Series). As a background entity, they play a part in attempting to contain the Infection, as well as scattering improvised military waypoints, outposts, and rescue areas. Unfortunately for the Military, many of its members have succumbed to the Infection and so appear (in their camouflage fatigues) as part of the army of Walkers.

Involvement with containing the Epidemic
The Military was working alongside FEMA, in an attempt to fight and stop the zombie epidemic from spreading. Originally, the Military's strategy was to evacuate and rescue as many people as possible as seen at the hospital where Rick Grimes woke up, but once that became less feasible, it is evident that a political decision was taken to suspend the rescue and shoot the infected walkers on sight (as seen at the beginning of TS-19).

The United States Army was shown to have been deployed to hault the infection. Fighter jets were heard during the chaotic evacuation of Harrison Memorial Hospital on Day five; indicating that the United States Air Force was running strike missions against the army of walkers. In the television series, soldiers from the U.S. Army's First Cavalry have been spotted, as well as soldiers from the 82nd Airborne.

These soldiers have been seen in episodes such as "Days Gone Bye" and "TS-19." In "Days Gone Bye," an infected soldier from the 82nd Airborne was seen inside an tank. He is also shown to be Ranger qualified as you can see before Rick was forced to shoot him, you could easily see the Ranger tab on his left shoulder, making it clear that he was apart of the a U.S. Army response unit assigned to a checkpoint within the city of Atlanta. In the first few moments of "TS-19," during a flashback, soldiers are seen in the hallways of Harrison Memorial Hospital.

One scene shows a group of soldiers killing possibly infected staff members of the hospital. As the soldiers are doing this, there appears to be a U.S. Army First Cavalry patch on one of the soldier's left shoulder, which indicates he is apart of the U.S. Army's First Cavalry. In Season 3's episode, "Sick," Rick Grimes states that there is currently no government or army. This may be incorrect because in the following episode, "Walk With Me", a National Guard pilot states that he, and the National Guard convoy he was scouting for, abandoned their camp, which was overrun by infected personnel, only days ago.

Military Bases/Outposts

 * Unnamed National Guard Refugee Camp - A small refugee National Guard camp which was said to be overrun recently. As the camp was overrun, a group of National Guardsmen were forced to abandon the camp. The group of National Guardsmen escaped with two M35 trucks, one Humvee, a flatbed truck, and a UH-1 helicopter. After no more than a few days or possibly hours of driving, the helicopter, which was strapped to a flatbed truck, was unstrapped, and took off to scout ahead due to a roadblock. After encoutering turbulence and suffering damage from being strapped to the truck, the UH-1 crashed into the forest near Woodbury. The only survivor, Lieutenant Welles, was taken to Woodbury. While being treated there he, without knowing The Governor's intentions, informed him where the convoy was located. The Governor later traveled to the convoys location. He informed one of the soldiers that Welles was at Woodbury. Shortly after doing so, he shot the soldier, and the other National Guardsmen were shot by The Governor's men from the surrounding hills field. All of the National Guardsmen's supplies were then looted by the Governor, and taken back to Woodbury, where he lied to everyone that the undead overran the convoy. At the end of the episode, the Welles' head is seen in an aquarium with other severed heads.
 * Robins Air Force Base - An air force base in which was stationed at as well as her father Larry may have been stationed here as well. The air force base was mentioned in The Walking Dead Video Game however, it has not been seen or known what has happened to it since the outbreak.
 * Woodbury National Guard Base - A Georgia Army National Guard installation to serve the Guard forces of the state of Georgia. The Governor mentioned that many of the soldiers at the base deserted in order to be with their families. A few of the Woodbury survivors were guardsmen and the town continues to use the base to scavenge weapons and gasoline. The Prison survivors looted the remaining weapons and commandeered a troop transport before setting the fuel depot ablaze to prevent Woodbry from using any of the remaining supplies.
 * King County, Georgia - The military set up a base near the hospital and assisted with the evacuation of the medical staff and patients to take them to the city of Atlanta. During the evacuation, the infected individuals were everywhere and despite the military's efforts to killing everyone and destroying/bombing certain areas, they pull out and abandon the outpost as seen by Rick Grimes.
 * Atlanta, Georgia - The military focused most of its efforts and attempts to keep the city of Atlanta protected from the infected walkers. Barricades and sandbags were set up all throughout the streets of Atlanta armed with personnel and tanks and other equipment. Helicopters were flying above patrolling the city as well as bring in evacuees however, the walkers made their way there and overpowered the military. It seems that some soldiers fought to the very end before being killed by the horde of walkers. Eventually, the military gave up on protecting the city and ordered a napalm strike on the streets to try and kill the undead however, the bombing had little effect as once again seen by Rick, the walkers were still roaming the streets. However, Rick's sighting of a Huey Helicopter flying over Atlanta may indicate that the military is still in action; in the state of Georgia at least.
 * The CDC - One of the more critical buildings in the city of Atlanta was the Center for Disease Control where scientists and doctors tried to find a cure to the infection. The military knew that civilians would try and make their way there looking for refuge so they set up a checkpoint outside and tried to protect the building as much as possible. However, one again, the walkers triumph over the military as numerous corpses both of the undead and military are seen by Rick and his group of survivors.
 * Unnamed High School - the high school was converted into a FEMA evacuation center and command post. The military units here were trying to protect the shelter and escort refugees to a safe location however, once again they were overrun and along with infected FEMA officials, military soldiers can also be seen wandering the school grounds aimlessly as walkers.
 * Fort Benning - According to Shane, the best chance of survival is the military base there. Shane says that if the base were still operating, they would be heavily armed and away from the hotzone of infection from the city. It is unknown if the military are still there or if they abandoned it. At a bar, Rick along with Glenn and Hershel are found by two strangers, Tony and Dave. Dave tells Rick that Fort Benning was overrun by Walkers but he may have been lying. The Huey Helicopter that Rick saw over Atlanta has a range of around 300 miles. Fort Benning, being 125 miles from Atlanta, would logically still be in operation by that performance.
 * Georgia Coastline - Dave mentioned that FEMA was running ferries along the southern coastline to carry citizens down to a supposed safe zone near the Caribbean Islands. T-dog mentioned that the group's best chance at survival would be to head for the coast. If the ferries are still in operation, they are likely being escorted by the US Coast Guard and Navy.
 * Montgomery, Alabama - Dave also mentioned that FEMA was using the train lines leading out of Montgomery to evacuate southerners towards the central United States such as Kansas and Nebraska.
 * Macon, Georgia - After the events of Episode 1:A New Day and Lee Everett and his group leaving the pharmacy, the military made some attempt to establish an outpost at the town in order to aid civilians and help evacuation efforts. Gunfire and explosions were heard by Lee and his group at the motel which was the military combating the walkers and the helicopter crashing into the drugstore. In the end, the military was forced to retreat and pull out of the town as more and more appeared and outnumbered the troops.

Equipment
Only United States Army and Marine Corps equipment and persons have been shown so far. (US Air Force planes were heard) The UH-1 Huey helicopter was shown many times either abandoned, bombing walkers, or running evac flights (which is strange, since the US Army has phased out the UH-1 in favor of the UH-60, and only the Army Residual Fleet still fields them). Humvees were shown parked in several areas around Atlanta. Rick took shelter inside an M1 Abrams tank when he first arrived in Atlanta. US Army Bradley IFVs and M60 Pattons were stationed outside of the CDC. M60 Pattons, like the UH-1, have been mostly phased out of the military, though some are still used in reserve units and this is likely the canon reason they appear. One was also used by the Govenor during the Woodbury assault on the prison. The M35 cargo truck was used by Georgia's National Guard and later the Woodbury Army. One was stolen from the National Guard Base by the Prison Group and one was used by Abraham's group to travel to Washington. M2 Browning .50 caliber machine guns were posted on sandbag barriers. Army soldiers were shown carrying M4A1 carbines. U.S. Military cargo helicopters were also seen flying into Atlanta. The US Army was seen using MOPP Chemical protection gear to protect themselves from the infected as well as in case the infection was airborne as seen at the beginning of TS-19. The fighter jets heard at the beginning of TS-19 were likely based in Georgia and therefore would be either A-10 Thunderbolt IIs or F-15 Strike Eagles. Also, in the scene where Rick leaves the hospital and finds the military outpost behind it, one or more Stryker armored personel carriers are seen in the background. They are most likely M1135 Strykers, which are a Stryker APC variant designed to preform missions in biohazardous, radiological, and chemical exposed environments.

The National Guardsmen encountered by Woodbury drove a humvee, an M35 cargo truck, and a flatbed truck to move a UH-1 helicopter. All of the soldiers carried M4A1 rifles and wore army combat uniforms. The Govenor stole all of this and added it to his arsenal.

In The Walking Dead Video Game a standard military jeep was seen abandon on the streets of Macon along with a crashed military helicopter that landed in the Everett Pharmacy Drugstore. Lee was able to use the jeep's winch which allowed him access to the drugstore to gather the remaining supplies.

The Walking Dead Comic Series

 * Sgt. Abraham Ford - Former sergeant in the military

The Walking Dead TV Series

 * Private Gaines - Seen executing patients in King County, Georgia.
 * Tank Soldier - Seen undead in a tank, died during the battle for Atlanta.
 * A squadron of 11 National Guardsmen (Two died in helicopter crash, nine were murdered by the Governor and his men)
 * Sean
 * Franklin
 * Lieutenant Welles
 * Corporal Brad
 * National Guardsman
 * Six unnamed guardsmen.

The Walking Dead by Telltale Games

 * Lilly Caul - Worked at the Robins Air Base, the U.S. Air Force
 * Larry Caul - Former commander of the Military
 * Mark - Member of the U.S. Air Force
 * Unnamed Military Pilot - Helicopter pilot who crashed in Macon, Georgia

The Walking Dead Social Game

 * Ed - Served duty in Iraq
 * PFC Jackson - Solider seen running a small military camp in Atlanta.

Trivia

 * The only known and credited soldier in season one is Private Gaines (played by Mike Senior) in the episode, "TS-19".
 * But in season 3 it is revealed that 11 soldiers from the national guard are still alive in the episode, "Walk With Me".
 * The Tank soldier seen in "Days Gone Bye" was portrayed by Sam Witwer, in an uncredited cameo appearance. In interviews conducted after Frank Darabont's departure from the show, Witwer and Darabont revealed that the cameo was intended to set up a prequel episode (or webisode series) with the Tank Soldier as the central character. The story was to have focused on the Tank Soldier's attempts to secure Atlanta, his being bitten by a Walker, and his subsequent lonely death inside the tank.