Tim Franck

Adventurous thinker, structural engineer, ANW course tester, Army Ranger vet, survivor of Flight 4819, climber, writer, philosopher, and world traveler!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

Living an Actualized Life is simple:

Daily trying to improve yourself and your circumstances and the circumstances of those you care about, cultivate positive relationships, and produce creative works – all while having fun.

- Timothy Franck (from Voliberatism)

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@tferriss @paulg @bfeld Absolutely - which means late nights for those of us with families

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@kekius9 100% agree!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@ML_Philosophy No, it's because we're going through withdrawals from lack of neurotransmitter reinforcement for doing stuff our primitive brain evolved to consider "important"

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

When first checking out the military, the Army recruiter was out that day - so I talked to the Marines (too cocky).

Then I talked to the Air Force (imperfect vision so I'd either be fixing planes or doing something technical - didn't know about Pararescue back then, which might have been fun).

Then I aced a Navy test (they wanted me in a sub with 300 guys away from the real world for months at a time - no thanks).

Finally, I talked to the Army, eventually choosing to enlist with a guaranteed Ranger slot (called "RGV4" back then) - and I'm glad I did.

Good times - if you have the right mindset!

Here's my recollection of some good 2nd Ranger Battalion training:

“Gaah – eahrm!” Though it was barely audible, internally it was a scream of frustrated pain. That was probably the 30th frickin’ stump I’d hit with my right shin in slogging through the dark on this muddy hillside, and my left shin wasn’t far behind. Yet, even if I’d yelled, it probably wouldn’t be heard more than 10 feet away with the rain pelting down as it was.

What was supposed to be an easy, 2-klick approach from where we’d parachuted in, had turned into 3-hour near pitch-black tour of the 20 year-old clear cuts and triple-canopy forests of our training area in south Ft. Lewis. This new Lieutenant just Had to be lost. And suddenly something was holding me back; a farmer’s barbed wire fence. Yep – lost.

Another ½-hour went by, the terrain leveled out a little, and the rain tapered off somewhat. I saw an authoritative shadow walk past me on long, tireless legs, and a minute later our First Sergeant apparently convinced the PL to turn us 90 degrees left. 10 more minutes, and we stopped – this was our rendezvous point and rear staging area; sure enough, 1st platoon was already there, waiting.

Despite our meandering, we still had 2 hours to prepare for our final approach to the simulated raid site. Raids and patrolling are the bread and butter of us Rangers, so this kind of thing was nothing new, though we usually didn’t have that much time to rest before our raids. Two hours to clean weapons and rest up is practically heaven to Rangers, who routinely take naps anytime they’re allowed to sit still for more than a couple minutes, under pretty much any circumstances.

This location was actually not bad. As one of the newer Privates, I of course had to pull a ½-hour guard duty after field-cleaning my weapons, but then I plopped my poncho down on a nice bush to keep off the mud, and immediately fell asleep. About 45 minutes later someone shook me awake and I sat up quickly, shaking the inch of snow the drizzle had become during my nap. Five minutes later we were moving out.

After a slow, 20-minute creep, we dropped our rucksacks 200 yards short of the target, and took up our raid positions. Our platoon, 2nd, was to attack first, uphill from the south, to draw enemy fire, and then 1st platoon would attack fast (mostly downhill) from the east flank 45 seconds later.

Forty-five seconds delay may not sound like much, but a Ranger raid of this kind rarely lasted more than 3 minutes – and doing fire and maneuver uphill without flanking support is no picnic, neither for the legs nor the psyche. It was a relief to lift our fire and see 3rdrun across the objective – we certainly softened up the enemy, but 3rdcleaned house. All enemy killed, charges set on enemy vehicles, and only 3 Rangers wounded.

Two minutes later and we were rucking to our egress site, and what do you know, the trucks actually showed up this time. Not that bouncing along a logging road on the floor of a 5-ton is comfortable, but it beats a 12-mile midnight road-march, anytime! Just a couple more hours to clean weapons (first, of course), and ourselves, and we’ll probably get a solid 4 hours before PT this morning – could be worse, for sure!

@USArmy
#rangers

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@klhicks912 Summary of Brain Debt (free book):

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@ick_real

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@AuthorGFAllen Duma Key

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@gemmasbookshelf Totally agree! The movie did Not do it justice, though.

The movie wasn't horrible, but closer to 7/10 than the 9/10 others are saying. The Martian was much better.

Happy for Andy Weir - he's actually a really nice guy (once had a cool conversation about writing with him).

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

Feeling great!

Today’s meal 1 (of 2):

1 pound 80/20 ground beef, shredded aged cheddar, and topped with 3 extra-large over-medium eggs.

Down 14 pounds in 26 days eating carnivore, with high, stable energy, less joint pain, and no cognitive decline.

Yes, the first 5 days sucked - worth it!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@BrianRoemmele Incredible!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@BobFishell @AuthorGFAllen Door Into Summer for me

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@AuthorGFAllen Dune

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@gemmasbookshelf Fantastic book - frustrating movie because the book was so good

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@grok didn’t reply directly, but I queried separately, Pat - here’s the answer:

- @orangutim's post directly replies to an Artemis II Earthset photo by tagging Grok to explain it, following a question about the lack of visible stars.
- The image from April 6, 2026, captured by the Orion spacecraft crew shows a crescent Earth setting behind the Moon's cratered horizon during the lunar flyby.
- Stars are absent because the camera's exposure was set for the brightly lit Earth and lunar surface, making faint stars undetectable in the same frame.

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@PAdams7013 @BrianRoemmele @SpaceX @elonmusk @grok, please explain

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@BrianRoemmele @SpaceX @elonmusk Thanks, Brian - new phone wallpaper!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@PAHoyeck @vicedcuriosity The Marvel comparison is good - was really disappointed on all the corny fumbling in the spaceship, and the lack of detail on the science - which detail is what make’s Andy’s book so good. Maybe 6.5/10 - had much higher hopes.

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@powderski So frickin’ smooth!

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

Hello!

I survived a plane crash and had nothing I needed to change afterwards. Not because things are perfect - but because of the philosophy I live.

That seemed novel, so I wrote my original (not boring) philosophy in a free book:

https://t.co/GoGfB7Yvc2

Enjoy!

#flight4819

[Tim Franck @orangutim]

@juan_leg12 Hello!

I survived a plane crash and had nothing I needed to change afterwards. Not because things are perfect - but because of the philosophy I live.

That seemed novel, so wrote my original (not boring) philosophy in a free book:

https://t.co/GoGfB7Yvc2

#flight4819