The John F. Kennedy Assassination Homepage

Navigation

  » Introduction
  » The Report
  » The Hearings

Volumes

  » Testimony Index
 
  » Volume I
  » Volume II
  » Volume III
  » Volume IV
  » Volume V
  » Volume VI
  » Volume VII
  » Volume VIII
  » Volume IX
  » Volume X
  » Volume XI
  » Volume XII
  » Volume XIII
  » Volume XIV
  » Volume XV
Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. VIII - Page 307« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Allison G. , Lt. Col, Usmc Folsom)

Mr. Ely.
Am I correct in stating that the "B" course firing to which you referred occurred on May 6, 1959, at El Toro, Calif.?
Colonel FOLSOM This is correct.
Mr. Ely.
His record also discloses that he fired a riot gun, a .45 caliber pistol, and at some times an M-1 rifle on a course designated "FAM." That stands for familiarization?
Colonel FOLSOM That is correct.
Mr. Ely.
And that means that no scores----
Colonel FOLSOM. No score is recorded. It is merely to familiarize the people with the operation of the weapon.
Mr. Ely.
When you speak of ratings of sharpshooter and marksman, is it correct that the scale runs--marksman is the lowest, sharpshooter the next highest, and expert would be the highest category?
Colonel FOLSOM. That is correct.
Mr. Ely.
Turning now to page 7 of the exhibit, which is titled "Military and Civilian Occupational Specialties and Education," I see hereabout halfway down the left column abbreviations for the courses taken by Oswald, first while he was at Jacksonville, and then while he was at Keesler Air Force Base. Could you tell us the meanings of these two abbreviations?
Colonel FOLSOM. Yes; at Jacksonville he was undergoing instruction in aviation fundamentals school, course "P." And at Keesler Air Force Base, he was undergoing a course of instruction in air control and warning operator's course. Both of these courses were of 6 weeks' duration.
Mr. Ely.
I am a little curious about Keesler Air Force Base. Is that under the auspices of the Air Force rather than the Marine Corps?
Colonel FOLSOM. Yes; it is an Air Force School.
Mr. Ely.
And do people from all branches of the service get trained there?
Colonel FOLSOM. Yes; we have cross training with all the other services.
Mr. Ely.
All right. Now, moving further down page 7, we have the record of a Russian examination taken by Oswald on February 25, 1959. Could you explain to us what sort of test this was, and what the scores achieved by Oswald mean?
Colonel FOLSOM. The test form was Department of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, PRT-157. This is merely the test series designation.
Now, under "understands" the scoring was minus 5, which means that he got five more wrong than right. The "P" in parentheses indicates "poor." Under reading he achieved a score of 4, which is low. This, again, is shown by the "P" in parentheses for "poor."
Mr. Ely.
This 4 means he got four more questions right than wrong?
Colonel FOLSOM. This is correct.
And under "writes" he achieved a score of 3, with "P" in parentheses, and this indicates he got three more right than he did wrong.
His total score was 2, with a "P" in parentheses meaning that overall he got two more right than wrong, and his rating was poor throughout.
Mr. Ely.
Page 7 also summarizes the results of the battery of classification and aptitude tests taken by Oswald upon his entry into the Marine Corps, specifically on October 30, 1956. This battery was composed of six examinations. Oswald's scores I see range from as low as 92 to as high as 125.
Could you, Colonel, tell us about these six categories, what they are, and what Oswald's scores in each of them means?
Colonel FOLSOM. Yes. I will take this in sequence.
The "RV" indicates reading and vocabulary, and the score, Roman numeral II-125 indicates that he was in the second category. Categories throughout the test battery run from I to IV, with IV being the highest.
The abbreviation "AC"---arithmetical computation--and the score Roman numeral III-108, indicates that he dropped into the third class.
"AR" is arithmetical computation, Roman numeral III-90, indicates that he was at the bottom of the Grade 3 in this area.
"PA" indicates pattern analysis, Roman numeral III-94 indicates that he was the bottom portion of the third group in this category.
Now, these four areas are grouped into a general classification test score, the abbreviation "GCT" represents that definition. And as a result of Oswald's
« Previous | Next »

Found a Typo?

Click here
Copyright by www.jfk-assassination.comLast Update: Wed, 3 Aug 2016 21:56:33 CET