In the spring of 1989 Nichols received a hardship discharge and returned to his family in Michigan. Shortly after Nichols left the army, McVeigh was assigned a new job: He became a gunner in a Bradley fighting vehicle, a tanklike troop carrier. He learned to fire wire-guided missiles, machine guns, and a 25-mm cannon. McVeigh was in his element. During live-fire competitions, McVeigh was consistently the topscoring gunner. He once scored 998 points out of a possible 1,000; later, he earned a perfect score. When military and political officials came to the base for demonstrations, McVeigh was the gunner who was chosen to show the Bradley's fighting potential.

Happy with his job and recognition, McVeigh reenlisted in the army in 1990. He was then asked to try out for the U.S. Army's Special Forces unit, which had been his goal all along. However, before he had the...