World War Z notes; Total War chapter 1

Disclaimer: notes transcribed as is, no editing has been made so as to preserve my original feelings as I read the chapter.

Part 7, Total War; Chapter 1, General D’Ambrosia.

General D’Ambrosia, although fictional, must have been based on real person as most of these characters are.
What I have difficulty believing is the amount of common sense that D’Ambrosia relates.
He himself thinks the idea of a General has been totaly warped beyond all reasonable comprehension.

Maybe it was Hollywood, or the civilian press, or maybe we did it to ourselves by allowing those insipid, egocentric clowns—the MacArthurs and Halseys and Curtis E. LeMays—to define our image to the rest of the country.

I’m not sure if this characters statements can be trusted, yet he seems believable & sincere.
The idea that General D’Ambrosia was actually fearful of sending more soldiers to fight a virtually unstoppable force just adds to his credibility.
Is it just that I have come to believe those in power are all out for themselves. Am I tarring them all with the same brush perhaps, if so I will have to become more open-minded when it come to the military & politics. I’m fairly open-minded about most subjects but perhaps I’ve become a little too jaded in regards to these two topics..

His way of thinking is rather practical, he admits the difficulty in visualising two hundred million zombies and that the current way of warring is obviously not the way to tackle such an enemy.
Makes me wonder about his military education & background.
He understands the logistics behind an army and that the undead have no need for these restrictions/resources.
D’Ambrosia’s war beyond the Rocky Mountains would be a long and arduous battle, and if he was as worried about his soldiers as he claims, then his would be the most mentally & emotionally difficult role of all America’s military might.

World War Z notes; Around The World And Above chapter 9

Disclaimer: notes transcribed as is, no editing has been made so as to preserve my original feelings as I read the chapter.

Part 6, Around The World And Above; Chapter 9, Ernesto Olguin.

So the USS Saratoga eventually wound up as a “floating United Nations”, an interesting use for a decommissioned aircraft carrier. I’ve watched documentaries on the designing & building of such vessels. The constant evolution of the carrier are an engineering masterpiece of constant problem-solving. It makes sense that such a vessel would be used not only for the purposes of the U.N. but as a refugee transport. Aircraft carriers are, quite simply, floating cities. Able to house & support a great deal more people than any cruise or luxury liner. From what I’ve seen of these vessels, they seem rather more comfortable than you would expect. Certainly not as cramped as I originally envisioned.

Basically, this chapter relates the politics surrounding the U.N. conference. Ernesto was not a delegate at this event, merely a bystander, a naval attaché with a vested interest on the outcomes of various meetings.
It was also a sharing of ideas, he mentions demonstrations of the British fortified motorways and a live demonstration of Mkunga Lalem. The footnotes mention this to be “the world’s premier antizombie martial art” also known as The Eel and the Sword. Unfortunately Mr. Olguin does not elaborate on this technique. Pity, maybe when the book gets filmed I’ll get to see it.

The Saratoga served many purposes like this, conferences between many country’s representatives concerning trade & naval integration. Sounds like humanity was trying re-connect, albeit on a limited scale.
The highlight of the conferences seems to have been the global decision to stand & declare war on the infected or to simply make do and take a passive role in the future.

Life’s Tragedy by Paul Laurence Dunbar

LibriVox volunteers bring you 27 recordings of Life’s Tragedy by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906). This was the weekly poetry project for June 21st, 2009.

Running time=1m 7s (mp3@64kb)

World War Z notes; Around The World And Above chapter 8

Disclaimer: notes transcribed as is, no editing has been made so as to preserve my original feelings as I read the chapter.

Part 6, Around The World And Above; Chapter 8, Terry Knox.

Terry Knox, son of an Andamooka opal miner and an astronaut serving aboard the ISS.

The way he tells his story, from a hospital bed natch, reminds me of a television programme from the 1960′s.
Thunderbirds.
A fantastic show for children of all ages, with this great space station (Thunderbird 5) that monitors all earth communications. The idea being that should there be a catastrophe, the other Thunderbirds would go in and rescue the people under the guide of “International Rescue”.
Wonderful programme, I’ve watched that series over and over.

Mr. Knox’s tale may as well have been that of John Tracy aboard Thunderbird 5.
Monitoring the demise of the Earth and it’s population, human or otherwise. All life was pursued but only humans re-animate.
He and his mates made the decision to remain on board the ISS and maintain any essential satellite’s, the other crew members departed for Earth.
I think Terry may have gotten the better deal but it surely must have been hell not being able to contact family members.
Those spy satellites didn’t help. The entire war played out like an endless soap-opera without sound and no means of intervening. No real way of helping those on the ground.
He saw the battles that raged between the living and the dead. He and his remaining crew mates could only morbidly witness such events as Yonkers & Chongqing.
He saw what really happened in India, how General Raj-Singh did not abandon his men like the rumours say.

World War Z notes; Around The World And Above chapter 7

Disclaimer: notes transcribed as is, no editing has been made so as to preserve my original feelings as I read the chapter.

Part 6, Around The World And Above; Chapter 7, Admiral Xu Zhicai.

[Note: For the sake of clarity, Western naval designations have replaced the authentic Chinese.]

It seems the Chinese authorities allowed the zombie virus to ransack their country. The army really thought that throwing more people/soldiers to the zombie hordes would solve the problem. Idiots. Pity the poor fools who just ended up as fodder, someone else to be eaten and thus join the ranks of the undead.
Obviously Admiral Xu had no love for the plan to save his country, but orders are orders I guess and he obeyed.
He understands now, of course, but there seems to have been some hostility towards a certain Captain Chen and his plan.
If the army hadn’t been so arrogant, as the Admiral puts it, perhaps they wouldn’t have dismissed the Redeker Plan so carelessly. The army truly was secure in it’s superiority over this and any threat.
They really were dense about the whole situation.

So, it fell on China’s navy to find the solution to this devastating virus. How can they save their people, their civilisation. There was and is no cure.
Captain Chen’s plan, according to the now Admiral Xu, was to escape the mainland. Alone and without authorisation.
It seems that Captain Chen was Zhicai’s commanding officer at the time, he explains how his family was on base already but that his shipmates had to get word to their relatives.
The plan being that they would “get underway” fully stocked with the usual supplies, plus the families of those crew members assigned to the Admiral Zheng He submarine.