Or heading into the heart of a big city after a zombie apocalypse...
You're assuming that the one-handed bad guy didn't release a small crop of them into the camp.
Not just heading into the heart of a big city, but doing so on a horse. You know, the animals notorious for being scared and panicking?
As for Merle, it's possible that he did lead the dead back to the camp, but then somehow managed to escape back into the woods and head off by himself. However, they did find a walker earlier on, and they did float around the idea that with the living now gone from the city, the dead had probably left to follow food sources (such as wild animals).
Yeah I would venture to say the army could still be overrun by not only by zombies but panicky multitudes of people. You only have so many bullets.
Secondly, does anyone else find themselves irritated at some of the strategic decisions that the remaining humans make?
Like the Hispanic family going out on their own.... There's gotta be more safety in numbers.
The night the camp got ambushed while they were finishing up their fish fry.... you gotta watch your perimeter. There's no excuse for getting "surprised" by slow-moving, non-thinking zombies, IMO.
I also would like to think our military could defend themselves against a slow walking, not terribly smart army of zombies..... but I guess you have to suspend belief for a series like this.
While there is indeed strength in numbers, large groups also require more space and attract more attention. A family of four
could travel safer than a group of twenty.
I agree about watching the perimeter though. They were lulled into a false sense of security with their location, even though there had been a zombie that had wandered up near their camp before, and then at night, when they were most vulnerable, they let down their guard. Plus, the sounds, smells and possible beacon from the fire would have attracted the dead.
You're assuming the military would know how to fight the undead. From the tanks, and heavy weapons deployed on the streets, and their actions in the hospital during the flashbacks in the final episode it would seem they treated this like some mass uprising, and not as they should have. I wouldn't be surprised if they wasted their ammo and were simply overrun. Remember, we're talking of millions, potentially, of creatures that need you to aim at a specific spot on their body to kill them. Human armies
have been overrun by numbers before, and if there's one thing going for zombies...it's sheer numbers.
Maybe the military wasn't fighting zombies? We're only six episodes into this.
Well, Jenner mentions there was a military cordon, and you do see plenty of tanks and dead soldiers around Atlanta. And then in the flashback, you have the soldiers executing patients and hospital staff (whether they were infected is never really shown).