Some guys would get mad and they would say something, or sometimes they would do something by accident, and they would get themselves involved and then they would decide, "Well, what the hell," and push it all away. Oswald it seemed didn't have to have any reason. He just told an officer to get lost.

Mr. Jenner.

He baited an officer for the pleasure of it?

Mr. Thornley.

Yes; I might mention that this was one means by which he won the admiration of others in the outfit in that the junior officers especially are usually disliked, or were in that outfit, and this made him on such occasions as he engaged with an officer in some kind of officer baiting, this won the respect, for at least a few minutes, of the men--who would kind of laugh about it, and chuckle over it and tell others about it. Perhaps this is why he did it.

Mr. Jenner.

You mentioned some slovenliness on his part; what about his quarters, his barracks; did you have occasion to observe them?

Mr. Thornley.

I don't think I was ever in his barracks. I do recall having been told that he had Russian books and that is all I--that is the only connection I can make now in my mind with his quarters. I don't think I ever saw them.

Mr. Jenner.

You already have given us something of his view of the U.S. Marine Corps. Would you give us a summary of that? Give us your impression of his views with respect to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Mr. Thornley.

Well, definitely the Marine Corps was not what he had expected it to be when he joined. Also he felt that the officers and the staff NCO's at the Marine Corps were incompetent to give him orders.

Mr. Jenner.

Incompetent in what sense, they were below him intellectually?

Mr. Thornley.

They were below him intellectually--and for various other reasons in each case, too. Maybe this officer was ignorant, as was brought out about foreign affairs, in Oswald's mind, knew less than Oswald did about it. I don't hold with the stand that Oswald would study up on foreign affairs simply in order to bait the officer. I think it just happened to be that Oswald would see that the officer was basing his foreign affairs maybe on Time magazine when Oswald had done a. little more reading and I think he resented this Time magazine approach to foreign affairs.

Mr. Jenner.

How did these discussions arise, Mr. Thornley, the discussion of foreign affairs by officers?

Mr. Thornley.

Well, the officers, every so many weeks--this is mentioned somewhere in this pile of papers- every so many weeks a lieutenant is appointed to give a foreign affairs lecture or a current affairs lecture, pardon me, to the troops, at which time he explains the world situation in a haft hour. I remember having one second lieutenant telling us about Dalai Lama or it was a first lieutenant and I forget what he told us, but it was something completely absurd. I think at that time the Dalai Lama had just disappeared or something, and one would get the impression, I think, that he thought the Dalai Lama was a leader in Pakistan or something.

Mr. Jenner.

That is the impression the lieutenant tried to convey?

Mr. Thornley.

Well, I think that was the impression the lieutenant had had when he had been assigned to give this lecture. The last minute, he got down and started going through the news magazines to get his information, got it somewhat inaccurately, and didn't particularly care whether it was accurate or not anyway. Stood up in front of the troops and reeled off the lecture, and, of course, most of the enlisted men didn't know enough to criticize him either because they weren't that interested, and that was it--with a couple of people laughing up their sleeves, and this happened later, this didn't happen at the time I knew Oswald.
However, in such a situation Oswald would have been careful i am sure to raise his hand and correct the lieutenant.

Mr. Jenner.

I was going to get to that. During the course of these lectures did the troops as you called them engage in discussion with the instructor?

Mr. Thornley.

They were permitted to ask questions, to raise their hands to ask questions. And Oswald would have probably asked a question which would have made light of the lieutenant's ignorance.

Mr. Jenner.

Put the lieutenant at a disadvantage?

Mr. Thornley.

Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

Were you present at any times when you were at E1 Toro when