All three of the men convicted for their role in the bombing — Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier — were all previously members of the U.S. Army. All of them had enlisted in the Army in 1988, and they met each other while in basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia (via Famous Trials). Nichols was 13 years older than both McVeigh and Fortier, and he was McVeigh’s platoon leader. Both Nichols and McVeigh served in the Persian Gulf War, where McVeigh earned a Bronze Star, before they both left the service after failing to make it into more prestigious units.
After they left the Army, all three of them continued to spend time together. They all harbored anti-government views, and Nichols and McVeigh were infuriated by the 1993 siege at Waco. Nichols had even attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship the year prior, in a hostile letter sent to a state agency over his hatred for the government.
In late 1994, McVeigh and Nichols started planning the Oklahoma City bombing, and that October, McVeigh laid out the initial plans in Fortier’s living room. However, Fortier refused to aid McVeigh in building the homemade bomb or acquiring the getaway car. Fortier later intended to sell the movie and book rights of his version of the story for “a cool mil,” and vowed never to testify, but this didn’t materialize and he was cooperating with police within weeks.
