Sam Shoemate Podcast | Analyst | “He must become greater; I must become less" John 3:30

Joined March 2023
1,481 Photos and videos
Jun 10
Our app, Walk on Warriors, was overwhelmingly praised by team sergeants, commanders, and VA and SFA representatives over the last two days. The core tools we’ve built into it have never existed before (which I can understand will be met with skepticism until seen), and the the app as a whole brings a suite together that I truly believe will give veterans and first responders something that will completely change their ability to move forward in life and curb the epidemic of suicide in our ranks. It’s still in beta while we ensure it has the encryption required, but we’re looking to release soon. I can’t wait until everyone sees it.
7
11
57
4,307
Jun 8
Don’t step on snek
6
3
39
3,068
Jun 8
Didn’t realize meeting DDP would turn into crashing at his place after picking him up at midnight, talking shop, then only getting 3 hours of sleep so we could make it to today’s SFACON. Wild considering this dude was larger than life when I was a kid.
7
2
71
6,183
Shoe retweeted
Mr. Thompson, I was the FDIC Staff Sergeant Major at the USAIC, Fort Huachuca, AZ, 2003 - 2004, and previous to that while assigned there, I ran the National Security Agency (NSA) functional courses division from 1997 to 2002. Appreciate a reply to my below questions sir. Thank you! @JThompsonTN9 @SpeakerJohnson @TNGOP @RepToddWarner @JamesRosenTV @Rach_IC @RJ4arizona @GarretLewis @Winn4Arizona @winn4AZ @FOX10Phoenix @NicoleK_Fox10 @trentonhooker @jlumfox10 @GrantCardone @1100KFNX @AZREALPOLITICS @AZREPLD25 @thestate48news @Kelly4Humanity @TheIOGuy @brahmresnik @rodneyglassman @DocPeteChambers @JamesRosenTV @SteveMontenegro @MattForVA @JimLaPorta @GenFlynn @MilitaryPhonies @StolenValor1
Jeremy S. Thompson public speech. He is a declared candidate for the newly created 9th Congressional District, US Congress. Recording Date: June 4th, 2026. Location: Town-square, Lincoln County, City of Fayetteville, Tennessee.
2
5
9
5,286
Shoe retweeted
The reason why counter-organizing feels so difficult/impossible is because they only need a vocal minority and you feel like you need a majority. You don't. Everyone you need already agrees with you. They just haven't been organized yet.
75
1,292
8,646
89,807
Jun 1
Remember when field grade JAG officers were discussing how the JAG Corps Pride Affinity Network was at work to address Trump’s gender policy? We’ve told you repeatedly elements of the JAG Corps are working behind the scenes to sabotage this administration.
1 Mar 2025
A field grade Army JAG officer discusses how the JAG Corps Pride Affinity Network is active in opposition to President Trump’s Executive Orders regarding the new gender policy in the DOD. The purpose of affinity groups as stated by them is “to create a sense of community by striving to facilitate mentorship relationships between n Corps. The overarching strategic vision is "to ensure that every member receives mentorship and informatic experienced, caring senior mentors to inform their career and life decisions, resulting in increased satisfaction [JAG Corps]."”
10
89
286
11,570
Jun 1
In reference to this post
BREAKING: In a 2-1 ruling, a federal appeals court finds the Trump administration policy to ban transgender individuals from serving in the US military is unconstitutional. From Judge Roger Wilkins who wrote the majority opinion: "The Hegseth policy is both arbitrary and based upon animus, and for those reasons the Policy violates Plaintiff-Appellees' constitutional right to equal protection of the law."
Community note
The appeals court's 2-1 ruling protects only the specific active-duty transgender plaintiffs from discharge but upholds the policy's ban on new transgender enlistees, and the judge's name is Robert Wilkins, not Roger. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/docs/… politico.com/news/2026/06/0…
1
28
3,771
Shoe retweeted
This post hits hard for me. All 4 factors are spot on. My experience with each of the 4 as a military member, attorney and Covid vaccine refuser: 1) “Prior Reflection on Authority” - A childhood, including parents and grandparents, that encouraged critical thinking, lively debate, and thought experiments/ hypotheticals (especially my Papa!) genuinely caring and contemplating during various officer trainings when we discussed unlawful orders. 2) “Concrete Reference Point Outside of Consensus” - My oaths as a military officer and officer of the court. ( a disposition that’s a somehow a healthy mix of calm pragmatism and passionate idealism) 3) “At Least One Other Person” - A very stoic husband that time I found @JordanLkarr (and later @realnickkupper @kalemcossette @MCBashaw @CommanderFurman @Krow121812 @RobGreen1010 @samosaur so many more). I was in the fight alone for several weeks. Meeting these teammates fostered endurance. I thank God I never had to find out if I could have gone the distance alone. 4) “Willingness to Tolerate Social Pain” “They felt the pressure. They felt the exclusion. They chose the discomfort of integrity over the comfort of belonging.” — It *was* extremely uncomfortable to “refuse” in the face of a billion dollar propaganda campaign against us. Telling us we were selfish grandma killers. Telling us lockdowns were our fault. Calling us biological threats. Being actively and maliciously ridiculed and ostracized. In my particular case, intending to geographically separate me from my husband and then 4 yr old 6 month old for MONTHS. But honestly, it would have been a lot more uncomfortable to tell my family I sacrificed my integrity on the altar of Mammon (to save my career, retirement, or material comfort). The original author’s takeaway should be heeded: Build this now. Because the experiment is always running.
Every obedience experiment in history had the same overlooked finding. Not everyone complied. In Milgram’s lab, 35% refused to deliver the final shock. In Asch’s line experiments, 25% never conformed, not once, across any trial. In Zimbardo’s prison, at least one guard refused to dehumanize. One prisoner demanded a lawyer instead of a doctor and broke the psychological frame entirely. We spent decades studying the ones who obeyed. We barely asked what made the others different. That question matters more now than it ever has. The resisters in the COVID era were not difficult to find. Physicians who filed exemptions and lost their licenses. Nurses who walked away from careers rather than mandate patients into decisions they hadn’t genuinely chosen. Scientists who published contrary data knowing what it would cost them. Parents who stood alone at school board meetings. Ordinary people who simply said, quietly, without drama , no. What made them different? Research consistently identifies a cluster of factors. Not personality traits you either have or don’t. Situational and cognitive patterns that can be cultivated. First: prior reflection on authority. The resisters had usually thought, before the crisis, about the limits of institutional trust. They weren’t cynics. They were people who had already asked the question “under what conditions would I refuse?” before anyone was asking them to comply. Second: a concrete reference point outside the consensus. A value, a principle, an oath, a relationship that existed independently of the institutional structure demanding compliance. Something the system couldn’t reach. Third: at least one other person. Milgram found that a single dissenting confederate reduced compliance dramatically. The resisters rarely stood entirely alone. They found each other. Sustained each other. Gave each other permission. Fourth: the willingness to tolerate social pain. Not immunity to it. Tolerance of it. They felt the pressure. They felt the exclusion. They chose the discomfort of integrity over the comfort of belonging. None of this is innate. All of it is learnable. The most important thing Milgram, Asch, and Zimbardo taught us is not how fragile conscience is. It’s that conscience can hold, if you’ve trained it, named its limits, and found even one other person willing to hold theirs beside you. Build that now. Because the experiment is always running. Until then stay humble.
3
21
63
9,063
May 30
2012, I’m a SSG(P) (two months from pinning SFC), and I get a new soldier who shows up as a PV2. He was a PFC in Korea (every soldier knows Korea is the great equalizer of rank) and had an “incident” that knocked him down a rank. I initially didn’t ask any questions about it. I waited a few weeks, then I said “look, I don’t care what happened. I just want to know how you lost your rank. No lies. Tell me the truth. That’s all I want.” He proceeds to tell me the craziest story. He got drunk (as soldiers do in Korea), and he “spider-manned” up onto a Korean citizen’s balcony where he passed out. Local police showed up, took him into custody, then ended up dropping the charges. His command wasn’t so lenient. You see, this soldier had been chosen by his battalion commander for a green to gold packet. He was red hot, and his BC wanted him to be an officer. He was so angry about the incident that he told the soldier’s company commander to give him a company grade article 15 and knock him down a rank. This was a problem, because the soldier knew his charges had been dropped, and he wasn’t going to just roll over just for the army to crush him. He had superb rapport with his company commander, and when his CO brought him in, he told him he was going to have to knock him down to PV2. He told him no. He would take the court martial instead. You’d have to know what I know. This soldier was extremely charismatic and type A. He told me his commander was very timid and scared of his BC. This commander said “please take the company grade and I’ll make sure you don’t lose rank. I don’t want problems from the BC.” So the soldier agreed as long as he didn’t lose rank and signed the paperwork. He ended up losing his rank anyways. My soldier was furious, but he had signed the paperwork, and there was nothing he could do about it. I told him I appreciated him letting me know what happened, and I had no issue with his conduct. My MSG came to me less than a week later and said “Sam, I have two SPC waivers. What are your thoughts on [soldiers name.]” I said “he’s been incredible. Hard worker and a team player. He’s only a PV2 though.” The MSG told me “I asked S1, and it looks like he never actually lost his rank. They can’t find any demotion. He’s still a PFC.” Turns out some kind of shenanigans went down in Korea, and I think his company commander “lost” the paperwork and never actually took his rank. Just put on a show for his boss. So I got to drive out to the range where my soldier was working range support and put PFC rank on him that very day. Two weeks later we pinned SPC on him. Less than a year later we pinned his SGT stripes on him in Afghanistan, and I found out several years later he’d already made SFC. Moral of the story is to not let your current circumstances dictate your future. You took a hit. Get up, be a good human being, and drive on. Others will notice who and what you are.
If you know how to read a Navy Eval give this one a glance. Don’t worry it worked out. 🤣
50
75
858
54,106
May 30
Posts in the group chat, we laugh, then he posts online, smh…. This is what I get for hanging out with a Green Beret, lol.
13
2
74
5,694
May 29
This would be a game changer for veterans. Not trumping merit here, but if two equal candidates are competing for federal, the preference should immediately go to the one who served.
.@WHOMB is updating the research grant funding rules. I just filed a public comment (see in comments) on the federal grant rule (2 CFR 200.205, Docket OMB-2026-0034): Veterans and disabled veterans should get preference in federal research grants, service-disabled vets ranked highest, and vet-owned C-corps/LLCs/sole props able to compete with universities. Open through July 13. @russvought @SecWar @SecVetAffairs @SusieWiles47 @davhq @VFWHQ @AmericanLegion @MAC_ARMY1 @infantrydort
1
5
49
5,846
May 29
I’ve applied for numerous jobs and can’t get any of them because they all require an active TS (mine lapsed in January, and most companies won’t waste their time or resources sponsoring you), but a guy has been making up fake degrees and fake jobs for 20 years, got a job with the CIA, and got them to give him literal gold bars without questioning any of it. There are moments In any job or career where you come across something so absurd that you pause and say “I’m doing this all wrong.”
108
177
2,193
65,862
May 28
Few are going to understand the severity of this situation. From a counterintelligence perspective, this man was apparently on no one’s radar while possessing some wildly lucrative “work related” assets. OR* He was, and more people were involved. (Where I’d bet my money). The worst part though is his top secret clearance. There are approximately 1.3 million people in the U.S. who hold a TS, and there are only a few thousand investigators (that number fluctuates). The system is overloaded with too few checks and balances in place (I’ve said this for years). I have a deep background in counterintelligence, and I’m very familiar with the investigative process for a TS clearance, and if any of this story is accurate, it casts a massive shadow on the competency and integrity our nation relies on for security.
🇺🇸 A CIA officer got caught with $40 million in gold bars at home. David Rush had a Top-Secret clearance, a senior management position at the CIA, and apparently a very interesting storage situation. Federal agents raided his house last week and walked out with 300 gold bars worth over $40 million, $2 million in cash, and 35 luxury watches, mostly Rolexes. His explanation for the gold? "Work-related expenses." It gets wilder. The man spent nearly 20 years lying about his entire background, fake degrees, a Navy pilot career that never happened, none of it was real. He applied to the CIA three times before finally getting in, adding more fake credentials each time until something stuck. The CIA caught him through an internal investigation and handed it to the FBI. The real question nobody wants to answer is how someone with a completely fabricated resume held Top-Secret clearance for two decades without anyone noticing. Source: NBC NEWS
146
361
1,954
96,208
Shoe retweeted
Mat Best - Folded Flag (Official Music Video) This song was written for the men and women who stepped into the fire for this country and never made it home, and for the families, friends, and brothers left carrying their memory forward. Memorial Day isn’t just a long weekend. Behind every folded flag is a name, a story, and a sacrifice that built the freedom we live in every day. This song proudly supports the Major Brent Taylor Foundation and the Gold Star families it supports.
388
2,544
8,401
1,894,873
Shoe retweeted
Pay heed to these words. The CIA has avoided being scattered into the winds for 70 years. They think they are going 70 more at least.
May 22
Be wary of large accounts attacking the DIG and praising the CIA. No one [NO ONE] praises the agency.
1
14
68
13,187
May 22
Be wary of large accounts attacking the DIG and praising the CIA. No one [NO ONE] praises the agency.
5
17
97
17,627
May 22
Bulldogs are different. If you’ve never owned one, you have no idea. Probably the most “unique” personality in a dog I’ve ever encountered.
13
2
57
3,629
May 21
Serving in the military does not waive your right to informed consent. You signed up to serve your country, not be a lab rat for pharmaceutical experimentation. The laws of this nation don’t magically stop applying to you simply because you’re now under the UCMJ. Know your rights. Defend your rights.
🫡 Some obeyed. ❌ Others refused. Nearly all paid a price. ‘Duty to Disobey’ is CHD’s powerful new documentary revealing what happened to the men and women who stood their ground during COVID-19. “We have this giant pool of people that have to follow orders … if I wanted to test mRNA against the largest pool of people possible … I’d probably pick the United States military.” ⏲️ 7 DAYS LEFT to buy tickets to ensure your local theater’s screening for the film.
14
131
367
19,206