Pretty & Putrid: A.A.A. – Attrition Addicts Anonymous

Warfare is an ugly truth. It’s a truth that has been an integral part of human existence as long as there has been an existence to be had. When the first Neanderthal bopped his lady on the head with a club in order to engage in primitive foreplay – war was there. When the Church got all pissy and sent guys in bitchin’ armor across the land to spread the word of the Lord – war was there. When those patriots hopped aboard a docked ship and turned the Boston Harbor into a big cup of monarchy-defiant tea – war was there. When American’s united against a confusing and heat-tolerant enemy they were destined to never really understand – war was there. So when death lost its shit and couldn’t keep people in the ground – yeah, war was there.

Acceptable foreplay to this day.

It is all of this that makes me surprised we didn’t see it coming. After centuries of going at each other in ways that justify apes looking at us with judgmental monkey eyes, how could we not? Every day I thought to myself that zombies are exactly what this broken place needed. War shifted from a massive, nation-altering affair to a daily battle of Joe Schmo against Joe Fuckass. If something so horrible could be assimilated into daily life, then our kind was ripe for a smoten!

Modern Warefare.

If you are reading this and think, “God damn this guy is jaded! Maybe someone should alert the police to this potentially hostile man!” Then jokes on you! Because you’re probably being eaten or have the skin tone that only lividity can appreciate. Jaded is just another way to say ‘realistic’. It’s the jaded ones that understood the punch line behind a Zombie Apocalypse: the only way people could be reminded they are human beings was to have global devastation wrought by the chattering teeth of something inhuman. The moral of the story is, when the dead rose up to feast on the living – you bet your ass war was there!

The Zombie War isn’t actually all that different from other wars. Don’t believe me? Read a damn book! World War I consisted of men fighting tooth and nail for weeks on end to gain inches on the battle field. World War II was the first to feature the tactic of launching the biggest bombs you can find in copious levels in order to bring the enemy to their knees. Armies of the world developed a little thing called attrition. What’s that you say?

Attrition Warfare – a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war be wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material. [1] (Citation 1 – wikipedia.org)

Wikipedia – a website used by high school students to not do real research and the probable cause of the Zombie Apocalypse. [2] (Citation 2 – unknown… probably the Bible or something)

The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse.

During the Vietnam War, American’s perfected the implementation of Attrition Warfare. Jungles and villages were blanketed with napalm in the hopes of neutralizing a handful of guerilla fighters. It was, and IS, a horrendous action that ultimately didn’t work. So this history lesson is showing you that Attrition Warfare was a terrible thing, right? No dumb ass! Look outside. See the zombies around you? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now think back to the Vietnam War. Imagine being a Vietcong fighter in a tunnel under the jungle. You’re just doing your thing eating something with chopsticks then BAM! The forest is on fire and your rice is overcooked. See what I’m getting at here? Humanity has become the guerilla fighters and the undead are the ones tooling around in shiny, fire-breathing airplanes.

Deadly distraction.

History has taught us that Attrition Warfare may be terrible, but it sorta works. Sure the Vietnam War didn’t really pan out that great. And sure the hammering given to Iraq during the first Gulf War still allowed for another Gulf War. But those were against a foe that looked at the side with the big guns and were able to extend a middle finger in appreciation. Now our foe is everywhere. They are relentless. And they are HUNGRY. Most of all, they are dumb as shit. Let’s give them the finger back and wiggle it in a teasing fashion above their snapping mouths.

It’s time to fight mass extinction with some family friendly displays of over-the-top violence. We need a little attrition in this war more than ever. They have endless numbers and we have… day dreams. So embrace the jaded, inner-workplace hazard you were before Z-Day came and use it. This is the golden opportunity to become an addict of excessive brutality.

"Hi my name is _____ and I have an addiction... want to fight about it?"

There’s no shame in going out there and embellishing your anger at the end of a blade or the cone of a bullet. Don’t be stupid though. If you go too far, by the time you realize you’ve reached the level of needing a support group… there is no coming back. I don’t mean this like, “you’re a lost cause like Lindsey Lohan in a pharmacy”. What I mean is that if you need to confess you’re an attrition addict to a group of other addicts then you’re likely in a situation of imminent death. They won’t talk about this in the history books because addicts won’t leave anyone to write about you.

So grab your blade, brush your teeth, and load your guns because war is here. War also isn’t going anywhere. The only difference is now you can go ahead and embellish your inner-mass murderer. After the zombie apocalypse mass murderers are also called badass heroes. Zombies aren’t alive so it isn’t really murder anyway – it’s a necessity of war. And for those of you who cry about, “Zombies were people too!” I say shut the hell up, hippie. I’m an Attrition Addict who is more than happy to use you as bait!