Bradley Manning: WikiLeaker, Part 1
Flying Solo
As a child, Manning was not athletic; he had a proclivity for working on computers and was a bit of a geek. But unlike most nerdy types, he was not quiet; he would be outspoken in class: According Greg Mitchell's book, Bradley Manning: Truth and Consequences, one of his teachers recalled that he had distinctly anti-religious opinions.
The Sunday Times of London reported that one of Bradley's classmates, James Kirkpatrick, said, "He stuck out. Very quirky, very clever, very articulate. He could be quite anxious and frustrated, and people used to bully him a little bit try and get a reaction out of him."
Bradley was also gay. As a pre-teen he had told his best friend Jordan Davis, but when his parents broke up and he moved to England with his mom, he kept this secret to himself. In interviews with news outlets and blogs like ThisLandPress.com, Davis also described his longtime friend as outspoken, opinionated, and not afraid to confront authorities.