From Romero's films...

[JDP]

I have several thoughts on the matter of the soldiers leaving the corral gates open. First, the soldiers simply didn't care that the gate was open since they were fully planning to leave at that moment. It'd be like turning around to make sure the stove was off before fleeing the burning house. In fact, they might've decided to leave the gate open so that the remaining civilians would be extra-screwed after they were gone. As long as they were inside the bunker, no way they would have taken such a chance. Plus both Torrez and Rhodes were unarmed, totally unprepared to go out there and survive. None of them had any supplies prepared either. It is obvious that they were not ready to leave yet. And there were no civilians left in the bunker at that point either. All of them had either been killed (Logan & Fisher) or were trying to make it to the missile silo. The only ones who would have been in deep trouble by leaving the corral gate open were the soldiers still inside, including the very two men who would mysteriously have decided not to close the gate. Totally suicidal decision and very opposed to their character to do such a thing. Leaving the corral gate open sounds like something that only Miguel would have done, no one else. Second, I don't think the soldiers considered the zombies in the pen much of a threat. They didn't like them being there, granted. But they put them there. And they were completely confident that they could walk in at any time and destroy them. Sure, four of them loaded with ammo and weapons, they could do that. But that does not mean they liked the situation. It was too dangerous to keep those zombies there and trap them for the scientists. It is very clear from their "risking our asses" complaints that the soldiers did not like the situation one bit. Third, it really can't even be argued that they were security minded or disciplined such that their training wouldn't have allowed them to make such mistakes. They showed no evidence of having any such security mindset in how they dealt with other security matters. And they were completely undisciplined. When it comes to their own safety, I don't see any evidence that these guys felt like playing Russian roulette with their lives. The corral is always closed when we see it. And we never hear of any incident of zombies accidentally getting inside the bunker via the corral. They seem to understand this security measure very well. Yet they mysteriously forget it after John escapes. Wrap it all up and they were portrayed throughout the movie as stupid, cavalier, and undisciplined. Why would that one stupid act stand out? Because unlike other acts of stupidity, this one could end up costing everyone's lives, including that of whoever would "forget" to close the corral gate. I am confused on one point - did everyone know there was an exit through the caves? My assumption was that everyone believed the caves were closed off. They kept the specimen count as if none could get in/out. They put Sarah and McDermott in there as if they assumed it was a dead end. Why would we believe that the soldiers would see the caves as an avenue for escape? Didn't Steele so much as say that without the elevator they were trapped? Steel's reaction is in fact a nitpick by itself. He should be well aware that there is another exit. Of course everyone must have known that there was a missile silo in the caves. First of all, because as you said so yourself, it was the soldiers who put the zombies in the caves in the first place. They must have known the layout well. And second, if nobody knew about the silo, then how could Sarah and McDermott have known? What kind of special privileges they had to know such information that yet everyone else ignored? It doesn't make much sense that these two should know more about the layout of a military base than the soldiers themselves. None of the zombies could get in or out of the caves because they do not seem to have the necessary IQ and leg & arm coordination to be able to go up such a tall ladder. It is the only exit out of the silo. They put Sarah and McDermott there without any weapons, not even a knife, nothing, thinking that the likelihood of them surviving the caves would be next to impossible. They did not know that John was going to overpower them, take their guns and catch up with Sarah and McDermott to help them out. As for the zombies from the corral cutting off the soldiers near the bunker... when I was map-making the Day of the Dead map for the computer game "Road to Fiddler's Green" I tried to study the bunker layout. The fact is, it simply doesn't make complete sense. The zombies from the corral found a faster ... and different ... path through the secured caves area to get to the research area than the soldiers were using via the golf carts. Yes, that does not make any sense. There's just no way that those corral zombies could have gotten to those other areas so fast, and on top of that did not intercept Rickles on his way to the corral either.

[Trin]

I can't really attribute that much IQ or discipline to these guys. They let zombies mass around the entrance gates. They got drunk and brawled with chained up zombies a few rooms away. They taunted the zombies at the corral even as Sarah is saying that they're learning. And, worst of all, they lost 5 men using the security precautions they'd established. Yeah, leaving the corral open wasn't something I think they'd do under normal circumstances, but I don't find it that odd under those circumstances. I got the distinct impression that the plan was to leave asap. If they thought John was in the process of taking the helicopter and leaving without them I'd expect they'd literally drop everything to go stop that activity. Screw the corral. If everyone knew that the caves had an exit I have to wonder what they were thinking putting Sarah and McDermott in them. You'd have to think that anyone would have a fair chance of getting past the zombies in that scenario. There weren't *that* many specimens in there. We know that because they were already saying they were running out. It's a wide open area. I dunno. I never got the impression that they'd explored it thoroughly. I don't recall... was there a hatch or cover on the exit at the top of the ladder?

[EvilNed]

I agree with Trin completely, but I am enjoying the discussion. It's been awhile since we we're nitpicking the films like this.

[JDP]

I can't really attribute that much IQ or discipline to these guys. They let zombies mass around the entrance gates. They got drunk and brawled with chained up zombies a few rooms away. They taunted the zombies at the corral even as Sarah is saying that they're learning. And, worst of all, they lost 5 men using the security precautions they'd established. Yeah, leaving the corral open wasn't something I think they'd do under normal circumstances, but I don't find it that odd under those circumstances. They had little choice about the zombies outside the fence. They did not want to waste ammo on zombies that for the moment being were not a threat. Sarah tells the soldiers that if more of them come, then shoot some of them, obviously to keep their numbers down to a less dangerous level. One thing is what the soldiers were doing while they were not on duty, and a very different one is when they were active around the danger zone. We never see them doing something as crazy as leaving the corral gate open after they stop using it for collecting specimens. They were rude, obnoxious, loud, and not particularly bright, but they sure as heck were not suicidal. Sarah says that if what Rickles is saying is right (viz. that the zombies were scared of what Dr. Logan was going to do to them), then it is a sign that they are learning. Rickles was, of course, just kidding with that remark. Just look at his "yeah, right" facial expression after Sarah's reply. At that point in the movie nobody in the group, except Logan, really knew that the zombies were in fact capable of learning some things. The scientists also were getting slowly killed, it wasn't just the soldiers. They all agree that handling zombies was not a safe thing, but it had to be done, according to the scientists. The soldiers of course did not agree with this last point. To them it is never entirely clear what exactly is it that these scientists are trying to do with the captured zombies, so to them the whole thing looks like an unnecessary risk. I got the distinct impression that the plan was to leave asap. If they thought John was in the process of taking the helicopter and leaving without them I'd expect they'd literally drop everything to go stop that activity. Screw the corral. Rhodes clearly tells John to "get your shit together, whatever you need", so they obviously were getting prepared to leave, but not quite yet. If they are going to survive out there, they will need weapons, ammo and supplies, as much as they can carry. After they lose their only pilot, it is even more clear that they are even less ready to leave now. So even more reason now why NOT to compromise the bunker's security by leaving an open entrance for the zombies. The priority now is not leaving, but making sure that nobody else takes the helicopter. Plus they do not know for sure what exactly is Miguel doing up there. They think he might be "making a run for it". They want to go up there and check out what is going on. But they cannot leave yet, they have no pilot or any supplies prepared. Leaving the corral gate open at this stage when they are in fact still very much in need of the bunker facilities is absolutely counterproductive. They would be inviting nothing but further trouble. It makes no sense whatsoever for Rhodes or Torrez to even contemplate doing such a crazy thing, unless they both had become as suicidal as Miguel. But judging by how both of them react and run like hell when they see the zombies invade the bunker we can clearly tell that the last thing either one of them wanted was for the bunker's security to be compromised. If everyone knew that the caves had an exit I have to wonder what they were thinking putting Sarah and McDermott in them. You'd have to think that anyone would have a fair chance of getting past the zombies in that scenario. There weren't *that* many specimens in there. We know that because they were already saying they were running out. It's a wide open area. I dunno. I never got the impression that they'd explored it thoroughly. I don't recall... was there a hatch or cover on the exit at the top of the ladder? Because the likelihood of them making it out alive from the caves was quite slim. They had no weapons to fight with. It is an unusually cruel thing to do, and it was done to freak out John and coerce him into agreeing to fly them out. Rhodes already tried the "I will shoot the scientists if you don't do what I say" tactic, and it did not work. John doesn't budge. Rhodes now wants to try something even more frightening than getting shot in cold blood. The prospect of getting torn to pieces by zombies might just do the trick. Since the soldiers built the corral and put the zombies there, it goes without saying that they knew the area in question. They knew the zombies would not be able to get out from there, that's why they chose that area to keep them. They also installed lights in some parts of the corral caves, which were hooked up to their bunker generators (obviously all this was done before the zombies were brought in.) The silo itself has its own set of red lights and arrows clearly pointing the way to it. Even Sarah and McDermott, two civilians, know about the silo being back there. Everything indicates that the soldiers must have known about this other exit. The top of the silo is open. We never actually see this location, but when we see them climbing to the top of the ladder we can see light at the end, so the silo exit is not closed.