he fired for record again shortly before he left the Marines.300 He practiced also with a riot gun and a .45- caliber pistol when he was in the Marines but no scores were recorded.301

Oswald was given a 4.4 rating in both "conduct" and "proficiency" at the Recruit Depot, the highest possible rating being 5.0 and an average rating of 4.0 being required for an honorable discharge.302 On January 18, 1957, he reported to Camp Pendleton, Calif., for further training and was assigned to "A" Company of the First Battalion, Second Infantry Training Regiment.303 He was at Pendleton for a little more than 5 weeks, at the end of which he was rated 4.2 in conduct and 4.0 in proficiency.304 Allen R. Felde, a fellow recruit who was with Oswald at San Diego and Pendleton, has stated that Oswald was generally unpopular and that his company was avoided by the other men.305 When his squad was given its first weekend leave from Pendleton, all eight men took a cab to Tijuana, Mexico. Oswald left the others and did not rejoin them until it was time to return to camp. Felde said that this practice was repeated on other trips to Los Angeles; Oswald accompanied the men on the bus to and from camp but did not stay with them in the city.306 On February 27, he went on leave for 2 weeks,307 during which he may have visited his mother in Fort Worth.308

On March 18, he reported to the Naval Air Technical Training Center at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla.309 For the next 6 weeks he attended an Aviation Fundamental School, in which he received basic instruction in his specialty, including such subjects as basic radar theory, map reading, and air traffic control procedures.310 This course, as well as his next training assignment at Keesler Air Force Base, required Oswald to deal with confidential material.311 He was granted final clearance up to the "confidential" level on May 3, "after [a] careful check of local records had disclosed no derogatory data." 312 He completed the course on the same day, ranking 46th in a class of 54 students.313 On the previous day, he had been promoted to private, first class, effective May 1.314 At Jacksonville, he received ratings of 4.7 in conduct and 4.5 in proficiency, the highest ratings he ever attained.315

Oswald left for Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., on the day his course was completed; 316 he traveled, probably by overnight train, in a group of six marines led by Pfc. Daniel P. Powers, the senior marine in charge.317 At Keesler, he attended the Aircraft Control and Warning Operator Course, which included instruction in aircraft surveillance and the use of radar.318 Powers was not sure whether he had met Oswald before the trip to Biloxi 319 but remembers him there as "a somewhat younger individual less matured than the other boys," who "was normally outside the particular group of marines that were in this attachment to Keesler." 320 (Oswald was in fact 3 years younger than Powers.) 321 Powers testified that Oswald had the nickname "Ozzie Rabbit." 322 Oswald generally stayed to himself, often read-