(NaturalNews) For a number of years now, some people have been warning us that the government has plans to impose martial law in the United States and that they are simply waiting for an excuse to do so.The people who believe in such plans are generally labeled as "conspiracy theorists," but several recent incidents lend some credence to their predictions.For example, on April 11, 2015, residents of Ontario, California, were stunned by the sight of National Guard troops marching in formation through the streets of their city in an exercise the Guard claims was merely "endurance training" and part of what they term a "community outreach" program.Nonetheless, local citizens were alarmed by the presence of armed troops in their community, and a video of the maneuvers has gone viral, leaving many wondering what exactly is really going on.A local CBS News station interviewed Ontario residents who were concerned and skeptical about the real meaning behind the march through the streets of their community.Ontario resident Vicente Martinez said: "I believe that they're slowly but surely making their way into martial law. They're trying to fool us by telling us it's a training and then when it actually does take place and actually does happen, there's nothing you're going to be able to do about it."Although it is not illegal for the National Guard to conduct exercises off-base, many people find it highly unusual for them to march through the streets of a residential area. One can't help but wonder just how this operation classifies as "community outreach."The Ontario incident might be written off as an innocent training exercise by some, but it's not the only recent occurrence that has begun to make even those who don't normally embrace conspiracy theories sit up and take notice.CNN News recently obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that reveal the National Guard's use of militaristic language in their internal mission briefing communications during their intervention in the Ferguson, Missouri, riots last year.The documents include the use of words such as "enemy" and "adversaries" when referring to protesters involved in the scenes of unrest in the city after the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.National Guard spokesmen were quick to point out that the documents were part of a "generic military planning format" and that the language was modified in later communications to sound less militarized.Nevertheless, the fact that the Guard was using "generic military planning" formats in the first place might in itself be questionable to some observers.Yet another controversy is brewing involving a set of military exercises that are soon to be staged in civilian areas within the United States. The code name for the exercises, which will run will run from July 15 through September 15, 2015, is "Jade Helm 15." Many are convinced that the operations have a sinister purpose; one theory is that they are being conducted as a "dry run" in preparation for when the U.S. government declares martial law Jade Helm 15, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, is "a challenging eight-week joint military and interagency (IA) Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise conducted throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado."When viewed separately, any one of these three stories might seem to be relatively innocuous parts of routine National Guard and U.S. military operational procedures.However, it's easy to understand why many people are becoming increasingly concerned that the U.S. government is planning something big for its citizens or fears that the populace might rise up against those in power.One increasingly popular theory is that the country might be on the verge of a financial collapse, which could lead to a societal collapse and give the government an excuse to impose martial law.Whatever the truth may be, it's no wonder that many of us are becoming increasingly wary of our leaders and what could be in store for us in the not-so-distant future.