Left 4 Dead Used as Training Simulator by Military

If you’ve ever been to Idaho, you’ll agree with me that’s it’s a nice place to visit.  They have more potatoes than anyone else really cares to brag about.  But there’s something else there just behind the thin veil of potato chips and skinheads.  There is a group of people living on a twenty-acre tract of land nestled in the hills just outside of Mountain Home, Idaho.  They claim to be the last line of defense against a force so great that most of the world shudders at the very thought of its existence.

A female recruit practices her aim on paper zombie targets.

“I can tell you one thing, when it all comes crashing down and it’s just us against them, this is one soldier that won’t go softly into that good night with a f#ckin’ zombie chomping on his neck”.  Says Tom Bordonix, founder and leader of the NecroResistance.  That’s right, they are preparing to fight hordes of zombies and defend this nation we call home.  Most call them crazy.  Some have even gone so far as to have them turned in to local authorities as a public nuisance.  “But there’s no stopping us.  We are going to see our training through and ensure a safe tomorrow for our children and their children.”  Tom proclaims.

Tom Bordonix was born and raised in Mountain Home.  The son of a local buisness woman and a stay-at-home dad, Tom was home-schooled and spent much of his time in front of the television after his lessons.  One of his favorite shows came on TNT each Saturday night.  That show was MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs as the host.  Tom never missed a single Saturday in front of the boob tube.  One night, MonsterVision played a series of zombie flicks from the 1980s, and Tom was never the same.

The NecroResistance wants to desensitize its members early.

“It occured to me from the plots of government tampering with genetics and all the different viruses we have created, that one day reanimating the dead is entirely possible.  Not only possible, but probable.”  Says Tom.

So, with the help of a few friends he met in an online zombie chatroom, they began to raise awareness about the possiblity of a zombie invasion.  Tom took his life savings and bought the twenty-acre plot of land outside of his home town with the intention of setting up a training ground for people who wanted to fight alongside him and his friends.  Within days, the requests to join him flooded his email account.  And so, the NecroResistance was born.  He and his crew moved into the old factory on his land and began transforming it into a base camp and training center.  Up until last year, they were getting ready to start building an underground bunker.  Then the digging stopped.

A real-life model of the L4D Tank, used for target practice on the range.

Tom traveled to Seattle in September of 2008 to the Penny Arcade Expo, a place he claims holds droves of potential future Necros.  While there, he got the chance to sit down and play Left 4 Dead.  “My world was changed once again.”  Tom claims.  “All this time we were spending physically training for a zombie-filled future, and there was no mental preparation going on.  I knew I had to bring this game back to the compound and get it set up immediately.”

Valve’s Left4Dead Booth at PAX 08

And so Tom did.  Within days of the release of the demo, Tom had an array of computers set up in one of the rooms and had it installed on every one of them.  He and his followers spent hours every day, along with their usual training, playing the game and preparing their minds to take on hundreds of zombies at once.  After a few months of playing the game, Tom decided that the time had come to take his cause public.  “The money was beginning to run out and we needed sponsors.  Some of us could have gotten jobs and kept things going that way, but we need everyone training at all times.”

So Tom set up a webpage on a free hosting site to try and get donations coming in.  “Things were slow for the first few weeks, and then the word started spreading.  Suddenly the money was rolling in.”  Tom proclaimed.  Tom went on to name a few celebrities who had donated large sums of money to the cause.  “I never would have believed it until I saw the name on the bank transfers.  I promised not to release names, but basically anyone who has recently gone from making normal movies to horror or sci-fi has donated.”

Sample Zombie Targets that Tom uses for training.

And after the webpage went up, the number of official members has more than tripled from 106 members to 334 in the last three months.  And that’s not including the number of online members who don’t live at the base.  That number takes the full force of the Necrosistance from 334 to over 12,000 total members.  “The army to fight these bastards is growing every single day at a staggering rate.”  Tom says.  “And now with the immense donations from the online members we are able to take things to a higher level.  More physcally demanding exercises have been introduced, and we now have what we call the L4D Center, which is a large room with 75 computers running 24-7 for anyone who wants to get some quality time in with the simulator.”

You read right, he said “simulator”.  Tom goes on to explain; “There is no doubt in my mind that the people who created this game (Valve) know what the future holds for us.  I don’t think they intended Left 4 Dead to be solely for entertainment.  They want us to learn, to perfect the zombie hunting skills in all of us.  That’s why we have to strive so hard to get those acheivments.  And that’s why you can play as a zombie yourself, to get inside the head of the enemy and defeat them.”

Tom claims that the guns used in the game, the different explosive devices, and the random objects that ignite when shot are readily available to those who know how to get them.  Tom himself does not believe that guns are necessary during the training of his recruits, he uses paintball guns for all training purposes.  Although he admits that he does have an ammunition room on the compound.  “You have to be prepared.  If I didn’t have the artillary to defend this place, what good was all the training?”  He claims.

Tom refused to release any further information on the Necrosistance’s full extent of training.  “There are things here that ensure a safe tomorrow when the time comes.  That’s all you need to know.”  He also refused to let us enter the compound itself and video tape, instead having us meet him miles away at a coffee shop.  He claimed that even though the compound is no secret and the location has never been hidden, he doesn’t allow press to enter the land.  Only members are allowed to venture inside the three rows of prison-style fencing.  The fencing is to keep out zombies, obviously.

Tom concluded by stating that although they are deemed as a nuisance by most of the world, as well as a bunch of lunatics, they will be the last ones standing when the dead walk the earth.  “There is no doubt in my mind that this day will come.  It’s just a matter of how soon and where it will start.  And when that day comes, people will be singing a different tune about the crazies living out there on that compound”.

Touché, Mr. Bordonix, touché.

You can read more about the NecroResistance movement at their website.