General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Justice for JFK [View all]stopbush
(24,395 posts)This one is a sorry attempt to find an excuse for the person who killed JFK.
First off - as far as Oswald making the grade of Sharpshooter in the USMC, the only important fact is that, well, HE MADE THE GRADE. Does it matter whether he made it slightly over the minimum qualifications? Do people who typically earn 94% on their school tests go through life thinking "I was a bare minimum A student?"
The rank of Sharpshooter was a rank bestowed by the USMC for *successfully* scoring above a certain score. Oswald made that score, with a little room to spare. Ergo, the USMC awarded him the rank he earned, based on his shooting ability, not on his haircut or his linguistic skills, but on his shooting ability. Period.
Having read the WCR, you also know that the USMC was questioned as to why Oswald's exit score as a shooter dropped from Sharpshooter to Marksman, and that the speculation offered by the USMC on why that could be was nothing out of the ordinary and entirely logical.
Having read the WCR, you also know that Marina Oswald testified that Lee was taking target practice on occasion with his rifle before he killed JFK. Does it matter what his USMC score was in 1959, when he was practicing his shooting skills in 1963? Do you believe that it would be impossible for a person who had achieved the grade of Sharpshooter to get their skill as a shooter up to snuff through practice shooting four years down the road? I don't. Seems entirely plausible to me.
As far as Oswald accidentally shooting himself in the elbow - that's why they're called accidents. By your standard, any skilled shooter who accidentally shoots themselves is "a very bad shot." By your standard, any race car driver who gets in a fender bender while driving their family car is "a very bad driver." Any football halfback whose job it is to carry a football is "a very bad runner" if they fumble the ball.
Your rhetorical question is really kinda stupid. The answer to "how many great marksmen shoot themselves in the elbow" is, "a lot more than the number of people who are never around weapons who accidentally shoot themselves," because if you're around guns a lot, you have a higher chance of shooting yourself than you do if you're never around guns, no matter how great a marksman you are.
BTW - Oswald wasn't court martialed for shooting himself in the elbow. He was court martialed for having "an unauthorized .22 handgun" in his possession. The shooting in the elbow was simply the accident that revealed he had the unauthorized weapon in his possession. As you point out, Oswald was court martialed twice and punished once while in the USMC, and NONE of those incidents had anything at all to do with his abilities as a Sharpshooter or a Marksman.
I don't understand people like you who seek to downplay the evidence that compelling shows that Oswald had the capability to kill JFK, and had it in spades. Why shield this fucking murderer from the scorn that should rightfully be heaped upon him by implying that he was a bad shot when he was obviously - in the words of the USMC - "an exceptional shot?" You're so busy trying to poo-poo the evidence that proves Oswald was a very good shot that you don't even stop to consider that even an amateur shooter could have possibly made the kill shot that killed JFK. After all, the gun was outfitted with a telescopic site and the target was only 86 yards away. That's not exactly the kind of shot that takes an expert shooter to make in the first place.
Yet you continue to attempt every possible excuse for the guy who murdered JFK. Why?