Mr. Turbo, I thought for a minute you found some evidence with substance.....Have to admit, the dented shell cartridge is truly a gem....The unfortunate reality is it doesn't hold water......Anybody with gun shooting experience has seen a few of these cartridges in their lifetime......It's a simple case of a heated cartridge being damaged during the extraction process......Have to give Mr. Donahue credit however, technically a bullet like that won't fire, due to the fact the cartridge won't hold a projectile, with the crimp being there......

I think you need to go back and reread Marion Baker's testimony that when he confronted Oswald, he (LHO) had nothing (no bottle of pop, urban myth) in his hand(s).....

IF you contend Oswald wasn't fleeing the police, than why did he leave the TSBD?.....And further more, why would he leave a bus(one he had paid a toll to ride) when it got caught up in traffic?.....

Oswald simply went into the movie theatre in order to keep from getting detected by any policeman passing by.....He perhaps would've been better off climbing a tree......Bodacious1

If the shell could have been dented like CE 543 from the extraction process, then the HSCA would have been able to duplicate it in their tests. They were unable to duplicate it.



I never said Baker saw Oswald holding a pop. I cited his WC testimony, where he described Oswald as calm, and that he (Oswald) walked back to him (Baker). The can of pop Oswald held was noted by others in the TSBD.



First of all, Oswald didn't try fleeing from the police. He could have discretely fleed the scene of the crime on at least three separate occasions...

1. He had enough time to leave the building right after the shooting, without being noticed. Why would he linger in the building - for even 1 or 2 minutes - if he was the assassin?

2. Soon after the incident, officer Baker shouted out, to get Oswald's attention (inside the TSBD). Oswald calmly turned around and walked right up to him. Then, it was officer Baker who walked away (from Oswald) to continue his search of the building.

If he had just killed the President, and a policeman comes inside the building, shouting at him, why would he then behave like a completely innocent man, who had nothing to hide? Oswald had his back to Baker, and was some distance away from him, when Baker shouted at him. If Oswald had just finished killing the President, he certainly would have realized that this would be his best chance, likely his only chance, to escape the scene of the crime without being identified (by the police, etc.).

Yet, he turns around, and calmly walks up to the officer? Why would he do this if he was the assassin?

Not long after Oswald had left, the TSBD was fully contained by the police, so nobody could leave or enter the building. Oswald could easily have still been in the building, sipping on his pop, when the police set up the containment. Why didn't he flee the very instant after Baker had walked away?

3. Oswald calmly walks right out the front door. Again, if he was the assassin, why didn't he make a less conspicuous exit, out the back door? Hardly the behavior of someone trying to discretely flee the scene of his crime!


Why did Oswald leave?

Oswald said he left the TSBD because he figured that there wouldn't be any more work to do, with everything else going on, amidst all the chaos and confusion.

Another factor to consider is that Oswald was a "slacker" at his previous jobs. This would have been a perfect situation - ie: a great "excuse" - to take the rest of the day off. Maybe, go to a matinee at the local movie theater....



Um, well, let's see - perhaps, because he got tired of sitting inside a sweaty, stinky bus, that had moved about two blocks during the past half hour?

What are you suggesting, anyway? That he was fleeing from the police, so he figured that he better get off the bus, because it was taking too long for him to get back to his place? I don't get your point here.



Which explains why he thought the reward to be gained by sneaking into the theater - to save a whole buck-fifty admission fee - was well worth the risk involved!

It makes no sense. Here's a guy, who supposedly just killed the President, and a police officer, now taking the incredible risk of drawing attention to himself...just so he can save himself a couple of bucks!!

He was hardly trying his utmost to avoid being detected by the police!

One more point. You didn't address the most important issue in my post - the anatomical impossibility of the SBT. Care to address it?

This JFK website makes it pretty clear....Bodacious1

The only thing the Myers simulation makes clear is that it doesn't address the issue I'm raising.

I'll give you a hint - vertebrae.

I don't know how anybody looks at this stuff. It is so morbid. Oswald was a no good, lousy son-of-a-b#tch, a cool headed psycho without normal emotional empathy or fear in calamatous situations- clearly off his rocker.

He lived several years as a loose headed, screw-headed malcontent with axes to grind to avenge his warped sense of justice.

Cool as a cucumber- a cold-hearted killer with deep seated problems, but an ability to hate and kill innocent people. Desirous of limelight. Just like Hinkley- whose brain was scanned and showed a deformation in the frontal cortex.

This Oswald stuff makes me feel like puking.


I can understand a trained professional like a policeman or soldier. They, unfortunately must tune out their human side, temporarily, and committ to kill. Ideally, it is justified.

Killing that President was not justified, and therfore irrational. Regardless of the reasons of any approving criminal elements. I don't know how Oswald ended up in the right town, at the right job, on the right day. I'll maybe look into it.

But, I bet it was mostly due to his efforts, along with other fateful decisions.

Read this...Bodacious1

You described Oswald to a tee......The only thing you failed to mention was how much of a liar he was......He got the job at the TSBD, lying during the interview process....

He told Truly that he had never been in any trouble with the police. This
was a lie; he had been arrested and had spent the night in a New Orleans
jail only three months before he interviewed for the TSBD job.

On his application he said he had completed the 11th grade. In fact, 10th
was the highest grade he ever reached. To the application question "Where
did you last work?" he wrote "U.S.M.C.(three year)" and as for the "Reason
for leaving last job" he wrote "Honourable discharge." Both are lies.

He had worked several jobs since he left the Marines. In 1959, shortly
after leaving the Marines, he defected to the Soviet Union. As a result
of this defection and anti-American statements he was alleged to have made
to personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Oswald's discharge was
downgraded to undesirable.

Oswald also wrote that he had lived in Dallas "continuously." This was
also a lie. (application found at 17H410, CE496)

And lastly he lied when asked IF he ever used the alias A. Hidell (name used to purchase the Mannlicher-Carcano from Kleins)......A picture I.D. was found in his wallet bearing the name A. Hidell.........Bodacious1

H1 is an anatomical impossibillity, because the bullet would have had to impact bony structures. David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D., who holds a Ph.D. in physics and is also board-certified in radio oncology, has studied X-Rays of the President's chest. He has used the cross-section of a body whose upper chest and neck dimensions were the same of those of JFK and performed a simple experiment. Taking the specific locations specified by the HSCA for the point of entry at the base of the back of the neck and the point of exit at the throat, he has drawn a straight line to represent the trajectory that the bullet would have to have taken from that point of entry to that point of exit. Any such trajectory would intersect cervical vertebrae. Here is a visual CAT scan of such a trajectory:



http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/warren.htm

As I said, it's anatomically impossible. Thus, the SBT has been proven to be impossible. And so, the official story is totally false.

Wow!
Has anyone read anything beyond the Warren Commission Report?
Try to remember that everything that was written about Oswald (in the Warren Report)was written to make him look like the "Lone" Assassin!
I suppose that none of you think this guy (Oswald) was connected with the FBI, CIA etc.
There was much more going on with Oswald then we still know and understand even 44 years later.
What do we know? Well, how about this for starters, once he went into the Marines he was trained as a radar tech and sent to Atsugi (Japan) where he tended to U2 flights and during his stay there he disappeared for quite some time and returned able to speak Russian then he put in for discharge stating that his Mother was ill and on his word he was discharged, after getting back home he decides to defect to Russia but never is out of touch with the American Embassy and says that he would like to renounce his citizenship (but never does) only to return to the American Embassy to ask for transportation back to the USA and gets it for not only himself but a new Russian wife.
After his return he finds himself in several jobs that we now know were connected with US Intelligence and he even worked for a company where he needed "Top Secret" credentials (Jaggers-Stoval).
We now know that he was at the very least an informant for the FBI and paid as such ($200.00 a month).
Yes, I would say that Oswald was smeared by the best seeing that even today after everything that we now know people still think of him as a liar, insane etc. The Warren Commission did it's job quite well.
ScottE

As stated in the link I posted, Lattimer contended that the bullet very well may have grazed Kennedy's spine.....That perhaps
explains the reason for Kennedy's unusual elbows up response....Some have refered to this reaction as a Thornburn reflex......Others, simply a neuromuscular reaction......A reaction signifying a wound in the right uppermost part (right arm raised prior to the left one) of Kennedy back/neck......

The grazing of the spine may also explain the keyhole entry wound to John Connelly.....The non-punctate wound being a result of the Carcano round tumbling......Test have been done to prove this effect.....

The picture you sent is two dimensional, so doesn't prove much.....The spine being of varying steps, a three-dimensional image would prove this.....Bodacious1

Oswald was far too unstable for any serious intelligence work.....This was the KGB's opinion as well as the CIA's.....Richard Helms time and again denied any link with Oswald to his agency......

And even IF it came to light that Oswald did have ties to intelligence, it doesn't prove the U.S. government killed their Commander-In-Chief.....They weren't able to get Fidel Castro, yet they were able to pull off the perfect murder of JFK?......Cover it up, hush up all witnesses for over 40+ years....Went through all the inconvenience, when all they needed to do was let the public know about JFK's extra marital affairs...... Just doesn't add up.....

I don't need the Warren Commission or any CT book to tell me about Oswald......Robert Oswald knew his brother quite well......He was well aware of Lee's emotional problems, and desires to prove himself......His lacking a father figure and having a overbearing mother (he joined the Marines to get away from her)......When Robert met Lee in the Dallas Police station, he knew he was guilty.....And professes to this day that he believes Lee (and Lee alone) was responsible for the murder of President Kennedy.....Bodacious1

Bodacious1; I am just wondering why you pick and choose items from my postings and disregard many others?
Talk about "Not adding up" history doesn't allow us pick and choose what we want to believe especially if there is documentation which factualizes the event.
I find it somewhat sad that you are willing to argue about a subject that you are not willing to review available information about, it seems to me that you are getting your information from TV and most likely the History Channel, well why don't you get a copy of "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" all 9 chapters, the disk which includes chapters 7,8 and 9 has been banned even today, dosen't that tell you something about the powers that be?
If you only read 1 book you should try to find a copy of "Kill Zone" written by Craig Roberts, this guy was a sniper in the Marines and then went into law enforcement when he basically stumbled upon the scene of the assassination and decided to research the entire crime (a six year study) it's very much worth the read.
ScottE

While in the meantime people such as yourself attack all findings as being either completely wrong or cover ups to the truth......You go by the notion that all participants in this event were either mindless dolts easily manipulated by the government, or complete incompetents.......Doctors, forensic experts, eyewitnesses and such......Only a few, more intelligent individuals, not involved with the original investigation, have true insight as to what actually happened......And only in them will the truth come about.....So they come up with rediculous scenarios.....An assassin firing from a manhole cover, the limousine driver wielding a pistol, Oswald being framed, etc.....

Josiah Thompson was an early proponent to the idea that John Kennedy was murdered as a result of a conspiracy.......But even he believes the Zapruder film shows what happened and has not been altered in any way......Having said that, one only needs to study the film with an open mind, knowing the facts surrounding the event......There really isn't a whole lot to it.....

But for those who cannot accept that history can be changed by an unstable person with a $12.95 rifle, will always be looking for something bigger.....Archduke Ferdinand was murdered by Gavrilo Princip, RFK by Sirhan Sirhan......Attempted assassinations of Ronald Reagen by John Hinckley and Gerald Ford by Sqeaky Frome......All these individuals were ordinary people trying to change the course of history......Oswald was no different.......Bodacious1

Actually, I watched the series when it was on the History Channel.....I see you can now get it just about everywhere on DVD.....The "powers to be" aren't doing a very good job IMHO.....




Thanks, but I think perhaps I'll wait 'til it shows up in the Science Fiction section of my local library.....Bodacious1

Bodacious1; Your whole first paragraph is completely off track, the things that you allude to in it are your words not mine, however, don't you think that when incompetence becomes flagrently visible that those who are so cavileir should be brought to task about their incompetence?
I mean after all we are talking about a murder of a President of the United States and it was never even investigated as any other homicide case is.
I agree with you to a point that there are some really far fetched theories out there but along those same lines there are some die hard people who even after giving full proof of events that really happened still do not believe them.
My belief is that there is a middle ground where an educated eye and mind can sort out the chaff from the grain and be able to come up with an educated and well thought out idea of what really took place during that time in history, there is plenty of documentation available for those who really care about what happened instead of those who assume without regard to the truth.
The F.O.I.A. (Freedom of information act) is in place and anybody can use it, much of what my beliefs are stem from the National Archives.
There was a guy from Maryland who was a Senate or Congressional investigator before the assassination by the name of Harold Weisberg and after the Warren Commission Report he spent the rest of his life investigating the entire crime and I recommend that you read some of his life's work, the "Whitewash" series his findings are incredible and should never be overlooked.
As far as one person changing history I think you are right about some and dead wrong about others, if Oswald showed nitrates stemming from firing a gun or guns during his parriffin test I would completely agree with you that he deffinately had some hand in the assassination but actual evidence like that is quite hard to ignore.
Once again I will say that in this country (The U.S.A.) we are supposed to assume someone is inocent until proven guilty not the other way around as the Warren Commission believed.
Whether you believe it or not there was and is a whole lot more to this crime then we have any idea about and hopefully you and I will have the truth before we leave this planet.
I find these forums to be very interesting and I would never use them for a personal attack, I think most posts are thought provoking for those who want their thoughts provoked, I think it's great to be able to bring my thoughts about this subject to a forum and I think it's great to be able to read others thoughts on the same subect so that I can see the entire picture from all sides.
ScottE

Bodacious1; A mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's opened!
ScottE

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007...ation_gun/1113/

Italian experts test JFK assassination gun

Published: June 29, 2007 at 10:56 PM
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TERNI, Italy, June 29 (UPI) -- Italian weapons experts say tests on the type of rifle used to kill U.S. President John F. Kennedy show assassin Lee Harvey Oswald could not have acted alone.

The Warren Commission report concluded that Oswald fired three shots with a Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle in 7 seconds to kill Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. However, tests supervised by the Italian Army showed it would take 19 seconds to get off three shots with that type of gun, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The tests were done in a former Carcano factory in Terni.

In one test, a bullet was fired through two large pieces of meat to simulate the assumed path of a shot that the Warren Commission concluded struck Texas Gov. John Connally after passing through Kennedy's body. In the test, the bullet ended deformed, while the bullet in the Kennedy assassination remained intact.

Conspiracy theories about the assassination have been circulating for more than four decades.

© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.

Search "Israel Kenedy and/or bomb" and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!

But isn't that something open to each and everyone's personal perception?......For instance, when Oswald was brought forward for the first time to meet the press, some felt he appeared too calm to have done it.....Meanwhile, others (some of whom which personally knew him), felt he had the appearance of somebody who was proud of what they had done.....

And as for having a cavalier attitude.....I think you need to give some leeway to the idea that, for a lot of people, this was their first brush with fame.....That in itself can make people do some rather bizarre things.....Remember there are photos of Limo driver (William Greer) smiling following the assassination.....Rather a strange way to react, wouldn't you think?.....But people have ways of dealing with things in different manners......Some, perceived as not fitting the norm.....Does it make them conspiratorial?.....Not necessarily.....At your next funeral, watch the variety of how people are acting....It's actually quite intriguing....

And I believe you can make the point, that perhaps some doctors did make mistakes before/during the autopsy, partly because they may have been in awe of the whole scenerio(?).....Kennedy was a young, charismatic leader and personality......Someone who was admired by millions......Imagine how the doctors must've felt, when they saw him dead.....The President of the United States.....Had to be quite a shock......Enough to make them make mistake, perhaps they wouldn't normally have done......





The Kennedy family was well respected by many in political office.....One has to believe they were quite concerned with the emotions of the Kennedy family at that time.......



In a Utopian world, that would certainly be ideal.....But unfortunately with our modern media, that doesn't happen very often......Bodacious1

Bodacious1; We are not talking about today, but 1963, it was a time before the Maranda Rights were even thought of, but our constitution was in affect even back then.
As far as making mistakes is concerned I will give some leeway but once again we are speaking of the murder of the President of the U.S.A. The errors and so called mistakes are epic i.e. James Humes at Bethesda Navel Hospital "Never" did an autopsy of anyone with a gunshot, the man had no idea what he was doing and beyond that he was taking orders from the gallery.
I'm sorry but "Star Struck" just doesn't cut it for me, I think that if I had encountered the Presidents body at the time I would have grieved but once I had gained my composure I would have wanted to do the very best of my ability and thought out everything I was doing because it would be a very big part of the historical record, especially his autopsy!
There is a very long list of things that never should have happened and none of those errors have ever been rectified up till today.
Well, as I have said in past posts, there is much more to this murder then we know and it is for sure not as cut and dried as the Warren Commission tries to make it look.
There were members of the Warren Commission that said at the time that if the american public knew the entire truth behind the assassination that it would effect our entire governmental structure and that is why the records have been sealed for 75 years, so what could that truth have been?
Oswald may have been part of the scheme but never even fired a shot and when he found out that the president had been shot it triggered his response to flee the scene, because it was at that point that he knew he had been set up as a "Patsy", He may have even been trying to break up the assassination attempt. (remember that he was a paid FBI informant)
I have learned a long time ago that this entire subject in nothing to skim over and come up with a final conclusion, our conclusions should be based on fact and because there is now so much available and even more being made available that we owe it to history to take the time to really research the information that is available to us on all aspects of this crime.
ScottE

Again, a matter of interpretation.....Humes is reported not to have had experience with gunshot wounds.......I haven't either, but believe I could've looked at Kennedy and readily determined the cause of death.....



Than just think of somebody who you admire today......Let's say you were an admirer of Dale Earnhardt.....Than you're asked to do his autopsy.....You cannot tell me it wouldn't affect the way you did your job......


That's not at all unusual for documents to be "sealed up".....This is often used to protect sources who have supplied the data enclosed......Because alot of the data is raw and unverified.....Information not tried in a court of law so not entirely cooraborated or cross-examined.......It also protects the way in which the data was gone about being collected.....


Than how do you explain the shots coming from the section of the TSBD where Oswald was working? How do you explain the boxes stacked to block view of the sniper's nest?.....How do you explain Oswald returning home on a different night to visit Marina?.....How do you explain witnesses who saw him carrying a package into the TSBD? Too much evidence just to dismiss and say Oswald was a patsy......Bodacious1

Oswald did it!

I am a new member to this community and am happy to join up and read the many varied subjects. This one in particular caught my eye, and in particular I felt some ballistic experience and data could be added to the discussion.

The first point I would like to hit upon is the nature of fragmentary ballistics and resultant tissue dispersion and kinetic expansion/reflexion. The impact on the skull is a prime example of fragmentary kinetic reflexion.

When tissue is struck by a fragmentary-type bullet, that tissue disrupts to a degree based primarily upon the pressure and energy dispensed or lost by the projectile. The amount of disruption is based a few minor factors...first being the amount of energy contained in the projectile...the amount of energy lost due to fragmentation...tissue and bone density.

The level of tissue disruption can easily be observed once these prime factors are noted.

Denser tissue, heavy projectile moving at subsonic velocities, plus harder projectile materials, will lead to less fragmentation, if none at all.

Case in point would be a 230 grain 45acp with a high tin composite lead core and a harder fully jacketed copper case. Target material such as a spinal column or femur will result in a stopped projectile due to lack of velocity induced fragmentary characteristics in the projectile and high density target material. The bullet would penetrate to a distance but then stop dead on the bone material due to loss of immediate velocity and lack of initial energy after interstitial penetration.

However, to achieve greater penetration, all one needs to do is increase the velocity of the projectile as well as the level of hardness so as to ensure a lack of energy loss through a lack of malleability. Of course this malleability is also greatly determined by the level of density and hardness of the target tissue and/or bone.

Switch now to the 5.56x45mm 55gr FMC rifle round. The projectile is much smaller, faster, lighter and has a very different malleability factor when compared to the 45acp FMC. The core is composed of a much softer lead/tin alloy, which when combined with a hard copper case, changes the outcome dramatically.

Generally when the 5.56mm projectile penetrates tissue it immediately begins to tumble due to it's boat-tailed shape. The back end of the projectile is open so that the core is exposed. When the projectile begins to yaw, it is thusly transversing the tissue sideways and as such has a greater amount of surface area exposed, while at the same time reducing it's trajectoral length. What this does is places a weak point of the projectile in line with the greatest tissue resistance, thereby ensuring potential breakup and fragmentation of the bullet.

The bullet then compresses against the tissue's resistance and in turn begins to squeeze out lead from it's open rear end. In doing so, this "squishing" actually makes the jacket weak at the bends of the compression and in turn facilitates an immediate breakup of the copper metal case...which leads to a more pronounced fragmentation and thusly a greater wound channel in a shorter terminal trajectory line.

Now...on to the next facet of this example...terminal ballistics in regards specifically to reflexive tissue patterning.

Tissue when struck has a certain amount of elasticity to it, and as such will rebound back in the direction in came from depending greatly upon the amount of damage to surrounding encasing tissue. So if a bullet does damage to internal enclosed tissue but not to the outer encasing tissue, then the tissue will expand and then elastically rebound back inward after initially repelling away from the energy after it has been expended through it's initial expansive movement.

In turn two wound channels are created...commonly known as the Temporary Wound Cavity, and the Permanent Wound Cavity. The full expansive distance of the tissue before reflexing back inward, is called the temporary cavity. Of course because there is damage to the tissue near the trajectory line, the tissue will not rebound fully back to it's original position...but it will get close. This final position and end of elastic rebounding will leave a wound channel once all energy is expended. This wound channel is called the permanent cavity.

As the bullet passes through the tissue it will also force blood and tissue to mix with any air in the wound channel much like a carburetor does with gasoline. As such there is now fragmented tissue, and blood in the channel waiting to be vetted out by the resultant reflexion of the tissue as it passes from temporary cavity status to permanent cavity position. With a bullet that over-penetrates a target by going straight through the tissue, the reflexive action of the tissue will expel some of the material inside the cavity out of both the front and back of the trajectory wounds. The vacuum created by the projectile also assists greatly in assisting this extraction of internal disrupted material as well as increasing the velocity of the reflexion of tissue to permanent cavity position.

Now with a fragmentary pattern the same type of activity is noted, except that with the repulsion of material exiting out of the single entry wound. Blood spray patterns and tissue expulsion occur out through the entry hole directly towards the line of trajectory with some amounts of expulsion differing in regards to the actual shape and mode of the wound channel.

With JFK's head wound, it exhibits exactly the activity of a fragmentary wound channel and reflexory expulsion of brain matter. The resultant "brain spray" heads in the direction of the shooter, with a minor amount of upwards ejection due to the upper entry hole, and elastic reflection off of the base of the skull.

It really is that simple.

Great explanation. So, Oswald's actions were because of personal traits and habits (ex-marine, gun collector, cold-blooded sociopath with potential for extreme prejudice, anti-political extremist), and chance opportunity.

I think I see, now.

The neck shot was from the front(which it was) so then its ballistic pattern should be similar to the head shot also from the front. Head shot is from a low power fragmentary bullet...my guess is now that the cartridge was a 30 carbine soft point or hollow point. Simply put, the throat shot had no exit...a 223 would exit but a 30 carbine wouldn't.

So then I got to thinking...why the hit to the throat?

The first shot was a purposeful miss...enough to make Kennedy stop moving and look to a side(which it did). The throat shot itself was a mistake...I figure that it was a miss...a low hit...it was supposed to be the kill shot. Considering how close the proximity of the grassy knoll shooter was to other civilians, a scope would be a dead giveaway. As such the shooting team thusly decided upon iron sights...but the calibration left the shot a bit low.

After the failed neck shot the rest of the team opened fire...thusly sending 4 more bullets down range. The final kill shot is intriguing, as the brain spray lead out towards the shooter as I had previously illustrated...but some of which had also jettisoned upwards.

The reason was simple...the shooter was compensating for the prior low hit and had aimed higher...but Kennedy was closer and as such the bullet hit higher than the optimal strike zone(the temple would have been the best hit severing the frontal lobe and inducing an immediate death)...to which the higher actual impact broke through the skull above the temple creating a longer fracture line and then fragmenting internally.

Then a spiral diffusion occurs whereby the pressure reflects off of the left side of the skull and downwards to run a circular spin ending up jettisoning brain matter both upwards and back to the shooter through the original entry fracture also breaking it wide open as seen...flipping the flap of skull and skin out and down away from the pressure line.

I presented my theory tonight to my Aikido instructor who also happens to be an ex-Ordnance Specialist...and he concurs so far, but is still not entirely convinced on the cartridge selection...although he agrees that the ballistic pattern is reminiscent of a soft point 30 carbine.

How many were in this team?

I would say three units of three maximum. Shooter, spotter, and radio op.

One can do without the spotter but not without the radio op.

Nine members? Three units of three maximum = 3 x 3 = 9. So three shooters, three spotters, three radio ops?

Where would/could they have been stationed?