"One question, and this might be totally talking through the @$$ or rumors, but as military, have you heard of or performed any war games exercises to prepare for the event of a large scale economic breakdown? Is that something the military is looking into? I would love to hear if you have any inside info!!! (If you are able to share of course...)"
I'll begin by saying that anything I state regarding military affairs/doctrine on this site is information that is available in the public domain. That's my disclaimer.
Back in Jan. 2010, Obama signed Ex. Order 13528. This effectively created a board of governors that will approve any attempt by him to bring the National Guard under Federal control, specifically that of NorthCom. This, and bear in mind I don't make policy, will be the first step in an egregious subversion of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. Text of the XO can be found here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default ... _order.pdf.
Unified Quest 2011 is the practical extension of the implied policy there. It is essentially running National Guard units through Ft. Richardson, AK to participate in civil unrest/food/economic riot training (read: preparation for a violation of Posse Comitatus).
I am an active duty soldier who recently returned from my brigade's second deployment to Iraq. Active Duty units are primarily focused outwards, i.e. Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, etc. Always looking for our next potential deployment. There are several units who have been given domestic deployments under NorthCom. Now these "deployments", for all intents and purposes, are not what you should be concerned about (Why? The are tailored towards responding to regional threats, and no you're not a regional threat you there shining your Socom II MIA with a Beta C drum full of 308 AP in your birthday suit and body armor).
You SHOULD be concerned about how you will respond to a police state.
Imagine this: primary thoroughfares have checkpoints established by the National Guard at city limits, with the local PD manning checkpoints inside city limits, in order to "ensure your safety from domestic extremists". Several major Tea Party demonstrations have been "suppressed". The Pres institutes price controls on most everyday consumables (food/fuel). The store shelves then go empty as Joe the Breadmaker/Dairy Farmer/Gas Refiner can no longer make money below a certain price threshold, and therefore, stops producing. Your local flea market then becomes your local black market, with the products you used to take for granted now available for a much higher price. Behind all of this is an ongoing bond market collapse, significant devaluation of the dollar on the USDX, and a downgrading of our AAA credit rating. Imports become prohibitively expensive, and we collectively kick ourselves in our rears because we offshored all of our domestic production/manufacturing capabilities. This leads to further drying up of goods/services we used to take for granted.
This is the point that many of us are preparing for. When enough people domestically lose confidence in the dollar that we must rely on our CuNiAgAu reserves in order to simply provide for our families. Are you prepared for that? Is your larder deep enough? Are you sure your 40%/War Nicks/slabbed MS70 whatevers/Numismatic one-in-a-million keeper will be acceptable to the next guy? He might know exactly how much a BU CC Morgan is worth, but he doesn't know the next guy will so he may only offer the going rate for a silver dollar. Just something to think about.
I know that's a bit off topic, so to bring it back down to earth, yes the pentagon is tracking the impending currency collapse/food riots/sociopolitical unrest. Yes there are contingency plans that involve the domestic use of the military. Yes FEMA is also tracking, and has responded by decentralizing it's capability to respond. Yes there are still contingency plans that involve a joint effort between FEMA and the DOD (see REX84). Am I being trained to double tap grandma cause she's got ammonium nitrate for her garden? No. Am I being indoctrinated to see civilians as the enemy? No. Take it for what it's worth and think long and hard tonight about the implications. Tough times are on the damn door step.