[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Union. At the very least, Oswald’s reading material indicates he explored both sides of
an issue.
During his service in Japan, Oswald had some disciplinary problems, being court-
martialed for possessing an unregistered, private handgun and "using provocative
language to a noncommissioned officer” when he spilled a drink on one of his sergeants
and “abusively challenged him to fight.” 64 He served 20 days in the brig. However,
conspiracy theorists would claim that there was more than meets the eye here, and that
Oswald’s confrontation with the sergeant may have been a manufactured incident to keep
him away from his peers for a period of intelligence training.
Oswald was honorably discharged in September 1959, a designation that was
changed to “dishonorable” following his defection to the Soviet Union. Oswald,
according to the Commission, felt the dishonorable designation unjust. The report
stopped short of saying this was a motive for the assassination, but said it may have been
a factor in his “general hostility against the government and its representatives.” 65
After traveling to the Soviet Union and attempting to defect, Oswald found the Soviets
appeared to take little interest in him, and when he was told to leave the country, Oswald
slashed his wrist in an apparent suicide attempt. After his release from the hospital,
Oswald went to the U.S. embassy to declare his belief in Marxism and to announce his
intention to stay in the Soviet Union. However, according to the Warren Commission, he
never took the legal steps to renounce his U.S. citizenship, enabling him to return to the
64 WC Report, 386.
65 WC Report, 388.
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