Timothy McVeigh, Hero To Pariah

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On April 23, 1968, Timothy McVeigh was born in Penalton, NY outside of Buffalo. Timothy, as a child, became quite the "all American boy." He was smart, he did well in school and teachers liked him. He was responsible and friendly. His parents were good people, however rarely at home at the same time. Tim became very self- reliant. As a child, Timothy was also introduced to guns by his grandfather. He became a soldier type and guns developed into his interest and hobby. He also learned survival tactics from his grandfather. Sadly, around the time when Tim was sixteen his mother left with his two sisters. Tim chose to stay with his father. His parents had been fighting for quite some time. Tim's parent's marital problems affected him deeply. He wondered if it was his fault. As a high school graduate, Tim chose to go to a college which offered him a scholarship.

There, he was going to study computers. After one semester, Tim was bored with it and quit. He took up a job at a factory until someone suggested to him that he join the army. He took that idea very seriously, and he enlisted the next day. McVeigh became very distinguishable in the army, as 1st sergeant and had dreams of belonging to the "Green Berets." He was sent to the Gulf War and he received a bronze star and an infantry badge, still, he wanted to be in the top 1%. Tim only had a week to recover and get back into the same training he had been doing for a number of years. But after six weeks of sitting, anticipating the enemy's attack, Tim's body could not function as well as before. His most devastating failure was realizing he could not even...