Dave Shute

Nothingburger taste tester. Strategist and Disney World blogger, focused on helping first time visitors make great decisions quickly!

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@pmarca It’s the *L* we gave them in 1776

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

I just appreciate all of you being willing to serve.

[InfantryDort @infantrydort]

Before I go to work I want to talk about discipline and standards. Frankly, I was floored at some of the reactions to the SECDEF's new focus on fitness and grooming standards. Many of whom are actively serving today.

My question to those people: What the hell are you talking about?

I've heard people say:

"Inspections are a waste of time."

"SECDEF is only focused on stuff an E5 cares about."

"He's trying to drive out women."

"Shouldn't we be focused on winning wars?"

"What's he trying to say here? I don't get it."

Again: What the hell are you talking about?

Do you know why he has to put out memos and guidance like this? Do you know why he has to care at the highest levels of DoD?

Because obviously nobody else does. Or if they do care, nobody is doing anything about it. Mass amounts of Soldiers being fat is a national security issue.

Leaders in uniform with their reactions surprise me. You all know leadership 101 is that when you shine a light on something, that's what your unit chooses to care about. This is the same thing at scale.

Have any of you walked around a base lately? Come on down to Fort Hood. Take a leisurely stroll. Count the fat Soldiers versus the fit ones. They look like they can't walk let alone run a mile and there's TONS of them (pun intended).

You know what else they don't do because they're fat? Literally everything else. They generally don't render customs and courtesies. Their uniforms look like trash. Their demeanor is just generally garbage. I feel like I'm at an Airsoft event.

Some of you are out here probably thinking you've seen Soldiers in the past who were AWFUL at discipline and standards in garrison but amazing in the field. You know what the common denominator with that type of Soldier is though? They are generally good at killing people. Their uniform may have looked like trash but their weapons were IMMACULATE.

Now tell me when you take a walk on Fort Hood that you can honestly say the slovenly Soldiers you're looking at actually have the capacity to kill like I just described. Or the capacity to meticulously care for their equipment; they can't even take care of themselves.

Has the body positivity movement diluted your sense of reality?

America, we are not your social experiment anymore. Cope however you need to at this news. We take quality over quantity, and your celebrations of individuality mean NOTHING to us. They shouldn't mean anything to you either.

War is binary. We win or lose, live or die. You don't even care about winning because none of you have had to deal with the threat of the wolf being at your door. We have just been a vehicle for you to push an agenda for the last few years. That time is over.

When that wolf comes, do you want the fat undisciplined mess protecting you, or the wild eyed fit killer? Seems like common sense to me, something many of you are sorely lacking these days.

On average, if a Soldier looks good then they are good.

My patience level for weakness and indiscipline is at less than zero. I know I'm not even close to being the only one. You think SECDEF just makes these decisions by throwing darts at the wall? No. He gets feedback from people just like me who bombard him with similar comments. Plus I know for a fact he's seen the fitness levels of Soldiers himself on circulation around the globe.

And finally, I would rather take 5 strapping killers into battle over 40 land whales. For those of you officers on the inside resisting this, resign. Or if you're enlisted and on contract, just fall out of a few runs and we'll take care of the rest.

***Real talk though we need to fix the feeding situation across the force (good food and 24/7 chow availability) and STRONGLY consider removing fast food from installations.***

[Abandon Comfort @abandoncomfortx]

If this post gets a million views I will buy this house, live in with my family and renovate it personally over the next 2-3 years.

Not joking.

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

My father cried.
I had never seen it. Not once in my life.

70 years old. Post-war generation. He hated America with everything he had.

60 years. Not one kind word. Not one.

Then March 2011 came.
He sat in front of the TV. Every day. Silent. Fists on his knees.

Your Marines digging black mud with their bare hands for Japanese strangers.

Your 19-year-old sailors sleeping on cold steel floors so our grandmothers could have beds.

Your carrier sailing INTO the radiation while the whole world ran out.

He watched all of it. And said nothing.

Then one night I passed his room and I froze.

Behind that door, my father, the strongest and most stubborn man I ever knew, was sobbing like a child.

I couldn't move. I just stood there in the dark hallway, listening, crying with him.

Then he said it. One sentence. It tore 60 years apart:

"I was wrong about them."

Do you understand what that took?

A lifetime of hatred. Gone.
Destroyed by soldiers carrying soup to strangers.

America, you didn't just save our towns.

You reached inside my father's chest and healed a wound he swore would never close.

He passed away believing in you.

Happy 250th. 🇺🇸🇯🇵
An old man who hated you died loving you. My father.

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

With all the fun over the 250th, I forgot to celebrate our stirring victory over Medicare. The two year anniversary was June 27, known as “Juneteenth.”

[Cleo Paskal @CleoPaskal]

One of my favorite 250th moments so far. French Foreign Legion @LegionEtrangere singing ‘Non, je regrette rien’ at @MountVernon.

Merci @FRDefenseUSA

[@amuse @amuse]

USA 250: Vice President Vance swore in sailors aboard the USS Kearsarge, Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, in NYC just before the Navy's Blue Angels did a low level flyby.

[U.S. Navy @USNavy]

Fifty years after sailing in New York Harbor during OPSAIL 76, PTDO Under Secretary of the Navy William Toti reflects on the enduring mission of the United States Navy and Marine Corps —and the work ahead to build America’s maritime power for the future.
Happy Fourth of July!

[Disney @Disney]

To the people, places, and moments that have shaped our nation – past, present, and future. #DisneyCelebratesAmerica #DisneySalutes

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@MoveTheSticks Longer, please

[National Park Service @NatlParkService]

If you drink a lot of water, you won’t have time for other people’s drama because you’ll be too busy looking for a bathroom.

[National Park Service @NatlParkService]

You know it’s hot when you go outside and it’s hot.

[Andrés Aranguibel @DesignerAndres]

Things I love about Skyliner aerodynamics (totally anecdotal from riding and observing it over the years… could be wrong?)

(Art is a personal 3D model from a few years ago)

[John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad]

RT if you are anti-Islamocommie

[Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius]

Reposting this Iran article again because the algorithm still hates articles for some insane reason, given X's push to get this sort of long form creative content out.

These take a lot of work. X seems really bipolar on this issue.

Anyway, reposted.

Thanks.

[Tommy2 @t0xmmy2]

Something good is happening at this World Cup.

The Scots turned up. The English turned up. The Norwegians turned up. They sang their songs, got stuck in, and the Americans loved them for it. Glasgow and Boston are getting twinned off the back of it.

For 30 years we’ve been told to view the US as some sort of Great Satan — all imperialism and orange-man clichés. Not everyone buys it of course, but enough do.

And then Europeans actually go, and find a place that feels familiar. Makes sense to them. A bit richer, a bit further ahead, but recognisably ours. Settled by Europeans, still deeply European in its bones.

There’s a gathering-of-the-clans feeling to it. Old neighbours discovering they still like the same songs, the same drink, the same daft humour, and genuinely enjoying each other’s company.

None of it’s a surprise, really. It’s just been buried under so much politics that we forgot we were allowed to enjoy it.

Good to be reminded.

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@DRsLoungePod Great pod, especially when Tracy was on. I admire her and feel for her.

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@clevelanddotcom It will be back July 13

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@BeastCoasters @DinoLandUSAarch Mustard, ketchup and mayo in industrial pipes for the win.

[Dave Shute @yourfirstvisit]

@DehranNotes Two copies of Mein Kampf?