In regard to Timothy McVeigh’s life in the army prior to the Gulf War, four major themes consistently emerge within existing biographical accounts: his love of guns, interest in survivalism, an inclination towards racist literature, and his outstanding performance as an infantry soldier. Archival sources reveal the existence of another pattern in his letters, however– a continued tendency to link sex with weapons, violence and possible catastrophe, a quality which, while not a conventional “Army Value,” was one perhaps possessed by only the best soldiers in the U.S. Army.
