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Governors in 11 states have declared a state of emergency and requested the assistance of the National Guard to quell riots and protests. The FAA is expected to ground flights in an effort to contain the virus.
―Los Angeles Radio broadcast during the early hours of 28 August 2010.[src]
Just received final authentication of Sunset Protocols. Y'all know me. I don't like this any more than you do. We are being trusted with these orders because they are absolutely necessary. Any Marine, including myself, who fails to follow these orders, will be taken into custody and brought up on charges.
―USMC Sergeant Wilkins to his unit.[src]

Operation Cobalt, also referred to as Sunset Protocol by the US Marines, was the campaign devised by the Department of Defense and enacted by the U.S. Military to contain the spread of the Wildfire virus during the 2010 outbreak. The first phase of Operation Cobalt commenced in the early hours of August 28, 2010 and ended on September 10, 2010 with the bombing of major infected areas and cities as indicated by the contingency plan, enacted after the military lost control of the situation on the field. It is assumed that Operation Cobalt was drafted by both the Central Command and the Secretary of Defense, to be then approved by the President of the United States.

The military action was regarded as a last option by the political leadership to ultimately contain the growing contagion; by the time it was enacted, downtown centers in major metropolitan zones were infected, leaving suburban zones to act as forward operating bases for the National Guard and regular units to secure the cities. Due to scarce medical intelligence, however, the initially favorable situation for the military was quickly reverted in a poorly coordinated retreat which greatly accelerated the dissolution of the United States government. The last military orders were issued to nuclear-propelled submarines which had to authenticate the launch of nuclear weapons towards major infected zones.

Background[]

On April 16, 2010, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States of America discovered the index case of Wildfire virus. The contagion originated from la Biomédicine DDMI, a biomedicine laboratory, in France. Wildfire is an airborne and latent viral infection that restarts the hindbrain and turns an infected host into a zombie after death. Upon resurrection, zombies carry an active agent of the virus that is lethal upon entering the bloodstream of a healthy individual, typically delivered through a bite or scratch.

Within the following months, very little cases occurred to the public. By August 2010, more incidents began to occur of people dying, coming back to life, and killing people to devour their flesh. These stories were dismissed as hoaxes or sensationalist hype by the general public. Meanwhile, the authorities kept the existence and true nature of the virus secret. Other than government and military officials, members of law enforcement and emergency services were aware of Wildfire's true nature.

On August 25, 2010, Wildfire was declared by the CDC as a global pandemic. The entire human population on the planet had become infected with the virus. Every person that died, except for extreme head trauma, then reanimated into a zombie and caused more death around them. Incidents of police shootings of zombies were criticized by the civilian population as an abuse of power and shooting unarmed civilians.

Early military activity[]

By August 27, 2010, the death toll and number of zombies reached critical levels. The chaos caused by the zombies and the public reaction to police shootings resulted in mass protests, riots, and lootings. Along with the overwhelmed emergency services, this led to nationwide anarchy and effective societal collapse. The country experienced blackouts and communication failures. Within the early hours of August 28, 2010, multiple states declared a state of emergency and enacted martial law. The National Guard was deployed into major urban areas after local law enforcement failed to contain the the riots, lootings, and zombies. Once deployed, the units established easily defensible Safe Zones, or Quarantine Zones, in urban areas. Medical facilities and refugee centers were also set up to secure those believed to be infected, provide screenings for the injured and sick, and to act as a base of operations.

Stateexecutiveorder

California initial response to the Wildfire Virus outbreak.

The Federal Government enacted a nationwide state of emergency followed by martial law. There was an active collaboration between the all fifty states and the Department of Defense, as the governors gave domestic information on the epidemic. The DOD would then take the proper measures to act. All military reservists were called, National Guard units mobilized, and overseas military assets recalled. Shortly after these actions, the U.S. Government evacuated from Washington D.C. to undisclosed locations, and some of these officials are assumed to have created the Civic Republic as an attempt to reclaim all 50 states and restore the U.S.

It is unknown if the Department of State had any particular role in Operation Cobalt, however it is assumed that emergency diplomatic meetings with NATO-member countries were made to attempt organizing a common response against the pandemic that, by early September, involved all major global powers. It can also be assumed that the UN General Assembly also attempted to come up with something to combat the outbreak.

Once these areas were set up, the safe zones would be used as a spring board to try to take back major metropolitan areas. The plan for the initial stage of Operation Cobalt can be described as follows:

  • Selected, easily defensible areas to be chosen for safe zones.
  • Medical facilities to be established for treating the ill and possibly infected.
  • Those brought to the medical facilities would be held in custody until either seen by a doctor or symptoms of the infection manifested.
  • Those who have either turned or showed signs of infection are to be humanely terminated, with their bodies being cremated.
    Safezone

    Safezones in Los Angeles.

  • National Guard/Army units to use safe zones to retake city.
  • The termination of infected outside the safe zones to commence. For unknown reasons, survivors remaining inside the city but outside of the safe zones would be terminated as well.
  • Be prepared to enact the Contingency Plan.

Known Safe Zones[]

Evacuation[]

COBALT

Directive valid for the California National Guard, effectively activating the contingency plan.

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)

OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL SACRAMENTO, CA

EMERGENCY EVACUATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATION COBALT

TO: PRESIDING SAFE ZONE OFFICERS

Higher authority has directed the immediate evacuation of all personnel from militarized Safe Zones. Separate instructions detailing the handling of civilians and quarantined patients will follow. The readiness, reporting, and evacuation procedures are detailed hereunder and should be disseminated to soldiers via special delivery letter:

Pick up your pre-packed suitcases (not more than one per person). Include any special medicines, special foods and several changes of clothes. One blanket per person may be carried. Take I.D. cards, important legal and personal papers, etc. Flashlights and transistor radios may be included. Tag all suitcases with your name and rank. Have your two-part evacuation card filled out and ready to hand to the evacuation team when called for. Extra cards and shipping tags will be available at command posts. Transport will run continuously direct to [REDACTED] starting shortly after you receive this information until everyone is picked up. DO NOT PROCEED BY CAR.

The evacuation will be conducted by [REDACTED}. There will be plenty of food and water and the best possible arrangements will be made for your comfort and quick travel to [REDACTED]. You will be given all possible assistance at [REDACTED]. Please keep calm and carry out all directions given to you.

KEEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR PERSON.

READINESS:

  1. Soldiers are to avoid accumulation of personal effects. (Books, heavy and cumbersome objects that cannot be readily moved.)
  2. Suitcases are to be kept ready for packing, already tagged and labeled.
  3. Containers should be on hand which are ready for shipping (heavy carboard boxes, strong cord, labeled, taped, etc.).

REPORTING:

  1. In case of a major local flood, fire, riot, civil strife, or hostility, soldiers are to report to the nearest Safe Zone and report status, awaiting further instructions.
  2. Safe Zone officers, after learning of established disturbances, are to investigate unreported or unaccounted for troops.

EVACUATION STEPS:

  1. Continue working normally, but soldiers are to follow and acknowledge instructions from the Safe Zone officers.
  2. Soldiers will receive instructions from Safe Zone officers via special delivery letter or transistor radio, depending on the time factor involved.
  3. If the message is “[REDACTED]”, soldiers will pack one suitcase for immediate evacuation and pack other personal effects in boxes properly wrapped and labeled for shipment.
    1. Soldiers should be aware that only necessities will be able to be taken with during the time of evacuation.
  4. If a second message is received by the soldiers, “[REDACTED]”, then soldiers are to proceed to command posts immediately.
  5. Soldiers are to avoid all unnecessary conversation and explanations that may cause suspicion or hysteria among the civilians populating the Safe Zones and quarantine centers.

REVIEWED BY: [REDACTED]

Contingency plan[]

Operation Cobalt

Bombing of Los Angeles.

On September 9, 2010, the United States Army Command with approval from the President of the United States drafted a Contingency Plan in case the main operation should fail or safe-zones proven to be hard to defend. The plan was enacted a day later, and major urban centers were bombarded. The overall purposes of this emergency operation can be listed below;

  • Individuals in medical facilities to be immediately terminated, soldiers to use protective suits and gas masks
  • Military units to withdraw from the various safe zones previously established and approach military bases for further re-collocation of troops
  • Infected zones to be disintegrated with air vehicles and massive use of explosive material The Contingency Plan also included clauses to authorize the use of nuclear weapons to destroy various metropolitan areas as an attempt to slow the pandemic. However, this order was never carried out as nuclear-propelled submarines were either abandoned or the crew was infected.

List of cities bombed[]

The following cities are known to have been bombed with napalm by the U.S. Airforce:

Outcome[]

The overall outcome of Operation Cobalt is a strategic military failure, due to the safe-zones being abandoned and overran, military facilities destroyed and massive losses of troops and equipment. While the Contingency Plan had few chances to limit the number of infected people in the United States, it was not enough to completely halt the spread of the Wildfire Virus. As a result, large groups of infected individuals were terminated but an insane number were still on foot. The most marked outcome of Operation Cobalt (at least in the California area) seems to be ecological, however. According to a park ranger broadcasting from Shuteye Peak, the forests of Yosemite National Park and the Serra Nevada mountain range were on fire and likely to be gone in a week.

One significant outcome that occurred after the fall of California and other states west of the continental divide, is that National Guard units were now actively working alongside, if not subordinate to/entirely replaced by, the regular military. It can be assumed that this is why a helicopter from the 7th Cavalry is seen abandoned outside the hospital where Rick was recovering.

Another factor which remains unknown is what, if any changes, took place to Operation Cobalt after they abandoned Los Angeles. For example, in Lincoln, Nebraska, a commercial airliner is seen crashed in the streets. It is unknown whether or not this plane came down due to any infected on board (as in the case of TruWest Airlines Flight 462) or whether or not it was shot down by the jets overhead. Also, it is stated that the military destroyed all the bridges over the Mississippi River.

In the aftermath of Operation Cobalt, the U.S Army disintegrated at a rapid pace as military action failed to contain the virus, with amounts of desertions increasing day-by-day. It is unknown if the U.S Navy had any particular role inside Operation Cobalt, but it is assumed that few days after the infection started in Los Angeles all naval battle-groups and aircraft carriers were recalled to the United States (USS Pennsylvania was recalled in the Gulf of Mexico) and had the important mission to use their airplanes to bomb the infected zones. The fate of all these ships after Operation Cobalt is unknown, likely to wander around oceans trying to survive or tried to took the matter on their hands and attempted to restore contact with a centralized command. As a result of those factors (among economic failure, unrest and loss of life), the United States, after 244 years, de-facto dissolved.

The last order issued by the Northern Command was assigned to USS Pennsylvania, to use nuclear weapons in order to slow the spread of the pandemic.

It can be assumed that once the outbreak spiraled out of control in North America, the United Nations General Assembly evacuated New York to Switzerland though it most likely disbanded shortly after the outbreak.

The Federal Government withdrew first to the Presidential Bunker under the White House, then fled to a more secure location attempting to contact units of the now disintegrated U.S Army and Federal Emergency Agencies.

It is assumed that numerous national and local governmental figures created the Civic Republic in the early years of the post-pandemic world, a nation that had the sole goal of restoring civilization by every mean and spanned from the State of Maine to Northern Virginia, without occupying Washington D.C.

During Operation Cobalt, the military would use thousands of Marines to "liquidate" any survivors in the cities that were bombed, including Atlanta and Los Angeles. The military's attempt to bomb Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was foiled by a conflict with the Pennsylvania National Guard and Air Force pilot Donald Okafor who chose to bomb 4,000 Marines instead in order to protect the hundreds of thousands of people in the city. As a result, Philadelphia was wrongly presumed destroyed by the rest of the world.

Operation N.O.A.H.[]

According to conspiracy theorists broadcasting in the weeks following the collapse, the U.S. government was responsible for the outbreak, which was an attempt at population control that went wrong. It is suggested that they had a plan should the contingency of Operation Cobalt fail. The plan was entitled Operation N.O.A.H. and it matches the real life continuity of government plan. Little is known about Operation N.O.A.H. other than it authorized the evacuation of government figures to locations unknown.

Appearances[]

TV Series[]

Season 1[]

Season 2[]

Fear the Walking Dead[]

Season 1[]

Season 2[]

World Beyond[]

Season 1[]

Dead City[]

Season 1[]

The Ones Who Live[]

Season 1[]

Webisodes[]

Trivia[]

  • The name of the operation was first heard over a military radio by Daniel Salazar when he was torturing Andrew Adams in the basement of Susan Tran's empty home.
  • Operation Cobalt was also in use when the military was dealing with the outbreak in Atlanta, as Shane, Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia and Ed were making their way to a purported safe zone in Atlanta, before witnessing it being bombed by the military.
  • It is unknown whether or not members of the Federal Government were involved in the decision making process of Operation Cobalt, but it is likely, taking the Geneva Convention into consideration.
  • It is unknown at what point the changeover from National Guard units to regular military units happened or whether or not this was part of Operation Cobalt. Whether the National Guard was federalized or the regular army was mobilized to operate on U.S. soil via a vote of congress in unknown.
    • This was likely a changeover as the Pennsylvania National Guard actively fought to stop the napalming of Philidelphia.
  • As revealed in "Years", the military and the Pennsylvania National Guard went to war with each other over the military's plan to bomb Philadelphia. Due in large part to the defection of Air Force pilot Donald Okafor, the National Guard won.
    • In "The End of Everything", it's shown in one Al's tapes that the National Guard and the army were fighting each other at some point, but it's unknown where this took place or if it was during Operation Cobalt.
  • There is some confusion as to the status of San Diego. While George Geary names San Diego as one of the cities bombed, Brandon Luke and his friends maintained that San Diego had not been bombed.
    • Although given the fact that Brandon's group was in Baja California during the initial outbreak it's possible that they don't know the full extent of the apocalypse and its aftermath in the US.
  • It is unclear how countries other than the United States and Canada attempted to deal with the pandemic but given what is seen in the TV universe, it's likely those countries faced a similar fate to the US and Canada, having been dissolved as a result of being overrun.
  • It's unknown why only Chicago, Illinois was targeted with a nuclear attack, as seen in Dead in the Water.

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