Gen Z Protests Were a Scenario in US Military War Game

In 2018, a US military college war game had a unique scenario — a Generation Z rebellion, or Zbellion. The scenario said in 2025, disappointed with their economic prospects, Gen Zers would organize into a group set to dismantle “the establishment,” with protests and targeted malware. The military creates many scenarios that don’t ever become operational plans, and this was just that, a scenario.

Some of them are less realistic, like a “Counter Zombie Dominance Plan,” and others are more realistic, like a plan to dissuade rogue nations from having nuclear weapons. The question is: is it ethical to war game against the American population? And are we seeing evidence of a Gen Z uprising today?

Sources in order of mention

2018 JLASS Zbellion exercise: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6936805/JLASS-Document.pdf

Article from The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/05/pentagon-war-game-gen-z/

Counter Zombie Dominance Plan: https://www.stratcom.mil/Portals/8/Documents/FOIA/CONPLAN_8888-11.pdf?ver=2016-10-17-114016-887

USNWC war game archive: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/game-reports/

Footage credit

US Navy archive footage remastered by Jeff Quitney: https://vimeo.com/jeffquitney