Operation Dead Hunting was an operation performed by the United States Military. While no official source of information exists beyond the name, we can take a look at what was left behind to determine what it's purpose was.

First, we have SUPT (D1ck) Mark and SUPT Kell Pousell.
SUPT - Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (U.S.A.F - United States Air Force)
So these are the two pilots.

To the right we have PNHQ, which the only reference to that is the Pakistan Naval Headquarters from Operation Trident in 1971. Operation Trident, as far as I can tell, has no relation to State of Decay or any lore, so I am unsure what this means. I cannot make out the name either. It is possible they used the wrong acronym, or a new one was made specifically for the zombie virus.

The Medic's is held by Barveso Dufm

An unknown title is held by Major Tommy Eagle.

Family (Unclear) is held by Sgt. Marcus Furm (Unclear). Possibly a family locator?

23 x Operation (Unclear what the meaning is) is led by Dave Black

IT is held by Sgt. Cole Write

Staffing is held by Mrs. Lauren Unclear

Rescue is held by Randy Mar

Staff Safety is held by Sgt. Martha Curtis

Staff Welfare is held by Sgt. Jackie Zham

DVS and Data is held by Dave Panyet. DVS would be Department of Veteran Services, not sure why they would be present however. Data probably suggests this is the intelligence officer if I had to guess.

(Unclear) is written apart from the main chart by Sgt. E. Tom and also Sgt. Sam (Unclear)

I/C 23x (The only thing I found is MQ-23X which is sheets/pillows/etc for the military, but I do not believe this to be accurate) is listed separately but on the chart, meaning unknown.

President Emergency is written above I/C 23x, meaning unknown

Four names, Ian, Tornado, Andrew, Unclear to the left of that, also unclear in their meaning and position

Ready (Rescue) @ 2030 hrs tomorrow is written apart, which we can only assume that means that a rescue operation was to take place.

A lot of what was written is unclear or illegible, which is likely done on purpose, but we are able to make out some details.

The highest ranking, and we can assume is in charge, is Major Tommy Eagle, however we do not know his part in the operation itself.

Staff may refer to civilians or military personnel who are assisting the military, likely by helping survivors that are residing there. Likely though it would be mixed, as they are referred to as Mrs. instead of by rank, while under this Mrs. unknown, they are back to being referred to by rank of Sgt.

Here we will explore the crashed helicopter first.

Firstly, we can confirm this is indeed an Apache helicopter, as you can see the resemblance below.
Secondly, an Apache is an attack helicopter, and is most effective at night.
General Carl Stiner, the commander of the operation Just Cause, stated: "You could fire that Hellfire missile through a window from four miles away at night."

This explains that they are effective at night when the zombies would be most dangerous, as well as extremely accurate to avoid collateral damage.

Next, we will cover the crash itself. We can determine that it was not airborne when it crashed, as their is very minor damage to the ground except directly under the helicopter itself. This means it was either sabotaged or destroyed. Furthermore, since we see a lack of destroyed buildings, we can presume it was taken out before it was able to.


Next, we see the holes all throughout the helicopter, which when compared to bullet holes all over the helicopter, look remarkably similar. This could mean it was attacked.


Evidence is backed up in State of Decay 2, in which the military presence in heartland confirms the bridges were destroyed by a well organized and strong force, likely military or para-military and was aimed to stifle the military's efforts. Why, however, is still an unanswered question, which will again remain unanswered here.

It also looks as though the pilots were killed or at least injured. I can confirm the blood remains on the outside of the helicopter, and there is very minor amount of blood inside the cockpit. It is likely that if the pilots did indeed die, it was because they were pulled out of the helicopter and eaten.




Next, we can confirm all missiles are accounted for, and not stolen or blown up, so the helicopter did not have a chance to fire any missiles nor were any missiles blown up. this means that it was likely not taken out by a missile or explosives, but rather a large amount of small arms fire. It's fuel system is self sealed and there are many safety features in place, but it is the most likely scenario I can see.

It's rear rotors are missing and the helicopter seems pushed slightly forward (from the ground and the missiles scattered) so it is possible it may have been hit from behind by a missile as those rotors are supposed to take a beating. This may point that they were indeed airborne or hit by an explosion, though that is debatable.

Here will be a list of pictures and descriptive text of what Operation Dead Hunting contained.

Army Tent with Fuel Barrel and Locker



Army Tent with Materials and a backpack


Army Tent with Lockers and Materials


Army Tent with Communications Systems


Military Personnel with Complete Kevlar Armor



Military Containers for Supplies and Defense




Operation Dead Hunting FOB (Forward Operating Base)



Guard Posts





Two Defended Entrances



Barbed Wire Defensive Perimeter


Reception Area

*This area was likely to take in and hold survivors, thus the luggage and clothes

Directional Arrow Corridors


*Leading Civilians to certain areas.

Observation Cells with Cameras



Cooler of organs/body parts

*Likely to research the zombies and determine more information on them

Clipboard of Information

*Not sure it's purpose, likely to catalog ZED behavior

Firing Squad Area


Medical Area


Research Area


*The machine is likely a CAT or X-ray machine

Assistants Desk

*Likely orders/intel

Lockers

*Houses Oxygen Tanks

Briefing Room


Lockers

*Probably Personnel Lockers. 18 Total.

Room with Keypass entry only

Notice the gate is the only one in the game with an electronic lock. It is set to guest mode


*Nuclear material?

Operation Details Whiteboard


*With arms locker

Observation

notice there are four screens, but only two cameras within the warehouse. The only other camera I am aware of is, oddly enough, the house you take over in the campaign near the city with the treehouse. Also oddly enough, it is right there in the cutscene where the survivor gets black fever and dies in front of you, and if I remember correctly, the circumstances and way he turned was concerning.... which leave one to wonder if this is indeed one of the four cameras or just a coincidence. If it is not a coincidence, where is the fourth camera?

Civilian Shipment containers




Command/Living Trailers




Communication trailers


Power Generator




Additional Army Tents

Putting these details together, we can make general guesses as to it's purpose and success.

The apache helicopter has night vision and other sensors and can be used for combat that requires minimal civilian casualties. It would make a great pick to help locate the undead and eliminate them, and provide support.

The location (access only by bridges, separated by a river) suggests they were planning to hole up there and clear it to make a Forward Operating Base in which they could operate out of. Had it been a success, they could have had an impenetrable fortress of which they could chip away at the zombie threat.

The name suggests that they were there to eliminate the zombie threat first and foremost.

It seems they were also researching the undead, taking in what civilians it could, treating the wounded, planning attacks and smaller operations, and possibly some secret operations as suggested by the only electronically locked gate in the game and Nuclear Waste.

Complications that probably arose were taking in too many civilians, as nearly all tents were empty that did house supplies, undead attacks as signified by the dead bodies everywhere, losing the helicopter before it could aid them, as signified by it's entire arsenal accounted for, and finally, not being able to secure it's location.

Possible complications are communication (as seen by the communication trailers), Power (as seen by the power generators), human or big boy attacks (as seen by the ripped fence), distrust (as seen by the firing squad location, tossed clothes and luggage, and the secret/locked room location.

Taking into account all complications and possible complications, it is no wonder this military group failed it's objective. We don't learn much from the campaign, and little else is found out in State of Decay 2, but this is the best we can determine at this point.

Seeing as how no one has discussed this lore piece, yet it being a huge chunk of the location in State of Decay, I attempted to inspect every angle I could think of.

If you have more information, feel free to comment below so I can add it in.

Did I miss anything? Let me know down below.

If you can determine more names or information from the whiteboard, please provide it so I can fill that information in.

If I have put in any inaccurate information, please point it out so it can get corrected.

But most of all, leave a comment about your thoughts on this.

Would Operation Dead Hunting have turned the tide or changed the story in State of Decay?

Are the soldiers you find later in the campaign from Operation Dead Hunting?

Who sabotaged Operation Dead Hunting? Why? Was it the same people that blew the bridges? Is CLEO behind these sabotages?

State of Decay 2 Homeland Update has changed quite a bit of scenery from the original. I assume that narratively, these are all changes that happened over time. It is more likely that they have developed the world closer to what they had wanted to in the first place (but didn't have the resources/time/people/assets to do so).

Either way, I will assume all changes made in State of Decay 2 Homeland is what Undead Labs intends. If this is the case, Operation Dead Hunting either never existed or was covered up. In the Homeland Update, the warehouse it took place in now looks like any normal warehouse that you wouldn't look twice at.

While it is more likely Undead Labs just overwrote Operation Dead Hunting so that it never existed, there is a (minuscule) possibility that Operation Dead Hunting was covered up by the government after the events of the first game.