THE SHOOTER

[John Ritchson]

Greetings:

********************************************************

The Shooter:

One thing both LNers and Buffs seem to agree on is

that LHO was a rather poor shooter,although the LNers

are quick to point out that his shooting skills were

obviously adaquate.How obvious,and how adaquate is an

issue I feel worth exploring.

There is no real record that I can recall off hand of

LHO ever being a gun enthusiast or shooter prior to his

entrance into the US Marine Corps so I think it safe to

say he entered the Marines,wet-nosed and green,as do

many if not most recuits.

From the very beginning, LHO would be immersed in a

society that brooks no loners, malingerers, odd ducks,

individualists, screw-offs,and screw-ups,a society which

from the very first,ruthlessly culs out the people that

demonstrate such traits.To exist in such a society, LHO

would have had to be a personable team-player with the

capacity to bond with the men in his unit. Hardly the

psychological profile of the loner and outsider that

would later be used to describe this man.

It would be some 3 weeks, if memory serves, before

Marine Boots are introduced to their weapons and the

firing range. LHO would have had this long to bond with

his unit before it would become appearent that he simply

had no proficiency as a shooter, and it was this fact

that kept him from being branded a misfit and rewarded

with the obligatory blanket party pursuint to washing

out of the Marine Corps on a general discharge which

is the normal fate of odd-duck, misfit recruits.

There are various types of problem shooters

encountered by Drill-Instructors on the rifle range.

Some have shooters-flinch which is a form of recoil-

anticipation that causes the shooter to jerk instead of

squeezing the trigger resulting in more cases than not,

in the shooter completely missing the target.The fact

that LHO was fairly consistant in getting his Maggie's-

Drawers which is a red flag indicating such a miss

is a strong indication that that he possessed this

tendency. Also, according to the Marines that lived

and trained with LHO, he was poorly coordinated and

was a regular scource of amusement by his attempts to

master such things as basic bayonet drill. Finally, the

fact that he was a natural lefty being compelled to

train right-handed in all things would only compound

the problem, especially eye-hand coordination.

In every training cycle there will be Marine Boots

that no matter how well instructed, simply will not

possess the manual skills necessary to accurately fire

a rifle. LHO was one such person. Failure to qualify on

the rifle-range means a wash-out for the trainee

involved, as well as casting the trainers in an

unacceptably unfavorable light. The easiest solution

is to have another trainee, usually a friend that

volunteers, qualify in the place of the problem shooter.

In the event that such a replacement qualifier can't

be found, it is not unheard of for that individuals

drill instructor to qualify in his place. The fact that

LHO didn't wash-out shows that in every other respect

he was an exemplary Marine as evidenced by the fact

that the Marine Corps had sufficient confidence in

his abilities to place him in a critical military

occupational speciality (MOS) as a RADAR operator at

a top secret installation conducting U2 overflight

missions.

After his Marine service, there is no evidence that

LHO ever joined any shooting clubs or frequented any firing ranges,

and was only known to have taken 2 hunting trips prior to Nov63,

in which on one was known to have missed hitting a rabbit at

close range with a shot-gun.

This is the man the WC Apologists would have you believe,was able

to take a poorly made surplus rifle that was assembled on the spot,

not sighted in,and accurately place 2 shots at a moving target,wounding

both JFK and JBC,and killing JFK.

Respectfully: