Corrected entry: The judge of the military court martial would be wearing black robes, just like civilian trials. In every scene the judge is only wearing his uniform, which in reality he would be wearing under the robes. The only time a judge at a court martial would not be wearing robes is in a forward deployment area, not Washington DC.
Corrected entry: Toward the end of the movie two Air Force service men enter the courtroom and are announced as upcoming witnesses as they were working the ground crew at Andrews Air Force Base on the night in question. Potential witnesses are never allowed into a courtroom before they testify.
Correction: The original mistake is correct. At the end Danny tells Jack that the witnesses WERE going to testify that they saw nothing. Even if he is exaggerating, they were witnesses and as such should not have been in the court room.
Correction: Caffey had no intention of using these men as witnesses, so the fact that they were in the courtroom is a sign of this. He only used their presence to scare Col. Jessup.
Corrected entry: Tom Cruise has one bar on his right collar on his uniform. He is a Lieutenant. A Lieutenant in the Navy has two bars, as shown on Kevin Bacon's uniform in their first scene.
Correction: Bacon is a captain in the Marine Corps, hence his two bars.
Correction: Kaffee is a lieutenant (junior grade), which is one silver bar. A full lieutenant is two silver bars. Both are just called lieutenant.
Character mistake: Lt. Caffey (Tom Cruise) wants the two marines to plead guilty and take a deal because he doesn't want the to "spend the rest of their lives in Leavenworth (prison)." The United States Disciplinary Barracks is indeed located in Leavenworth, Kansas. And the US Army and US Air Force send convicted felons there to do their time. However, Marines and members of the United States Navy are sent to Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire. It is run by the Marines.
Suggested correction: It's perfectly within character that Caffey wouldn't know this. He's been in the navy a short time, never tried a case in a courtroom, and is generally uninterested in military protocol.
Corrected entry: One of Kaffee's lines of questioning to Jessup centres around the lack of a phone call from Santiago upon learning he was being transferred. "Upon hearing the news that he was finally getting his transfer, Santiago was so excited that do you know how many people he called? Zero. No-one. Not one call to his parents saying he was coming home. Not one call to a friend saying 'Can you pick me up at the airport?'" The trouble is, Santiago was requesting a transfer, not a discharge. Had the transfer in fact been granted, he would have been going to some other USMC posting, which could be practically anywhere in the world.
Correction: True, he was requesting a Transfer, officially known as a "Permanent Change of Station" (PCS). With PCS moves, the serviceman is usually granted as much as 30 days of Leave (vacation). Santiago may have chosen to go home for a period of time before reporting to his new duty station.
Other mistake: When Danny, Sam and Jo arrive on Guantanamo Bay Naval base, they are met by the driver who recommends they put on camouflage jackets so their dress whites won't be spotted by Cuban snipers distinguishing them as high ranking targets.They comply and as you see them drive away, right there on the top of their heads, bright white dress hats can be seen clear as day. While it's against regulations to remove hats outside, it's also against regulations to cover dress whites, so a half-assed measure is an odd choice.
Suggested correction: The white shirt with shoulder boards are proper for officers, and a sniper would recognize the target as one. White hats are worn both by marines and sailors of all ranks, and from a distance, the differences may be not so easy to spot.
Corrected entry: In the first scene with Danny and Jo, in her office, one button on his shirt is buttoned, unbuttoned, and buttoned again. Also, there is a stain on his shirt, and then it's gone, and the apple gets bigger as he eats it.
Correction: If any button on Kaffee's uniform was undone, his shirt would be halfway open. The buttons stay the same and the stain is always there. It just looks different as camera and light angles change.
Correction: When Danny first walks into Jo's office his second button down on his shirt is unbuttoned. When he sits down you can see his shirt fall open. When the camera goes to Jo then the scene cuts back to Danny, his button is buttoned.
Character mistake: During the trial, Danny says Lt. Col. Markinson shot himself in the mouth with a .45, but in the suicide scene, Markinson's gun is a Beretta 9mm, the standard-issue U.S. Military sidearm.
Suggested correction: It's likely Danny never knew the model of the gun that Markinson used. His point was to tell everyone (mainly the jury) that Markinson had committed suicide by shooting himself. Danny mentioning the model of the gun was not his point, he just did that for added effect.
Corrected entry: Throughout the movie, Caffey is constantly being warned not to accuse Col. Jessup because he could get into trouble. This is totally wrong and the opposite of the aim of the military justice system. Any and all personnel are subject to the law and their rank or connections never come before that. Unless Danny is in contempt in court, he has every right to question and even accuse a ranking officer, especially considering a young man under Jessop's command is dead.
Correction: They weren't telling him not to accuse Jessop because it's illegal, they were doing it to protect him. Col. Jessop is an extremely powerful man with deep connections and if Caffey went after him in court and failed then Jessop would ruin his career. They were telling him not to go after him unless he was sure he could get him.
Correction: He's not being told not to accuse Jessup. He's being told not to accuse Jessup without any basis in fact. He's basically being told not to make unreasonable accusations just to try and get his clients off.
They didn't say don't accuse Jessup. Joanne Galloway told him to only accuse Jessup of ordering the code red if he feels that Colonel Jessup would admit to ordering the code red. In other words he's being told don't accuse Colonel Jessup with a baseless accusation that he ordered the code red, only accuse him if he has facts that substantiate the accusation. No reason Santiago should be transferred off the base if Jessup's orders are always followed and he ordered that Santiago wasn't to be touched, so Santiago being in grave danger doesn't make sense. Colonel Jessup contradicted himself.
Correction: I was a military Paralegal "Chief Legalman" for 16 years. I worked in many courts-martial with our JAG attorneys and our military judges never wore black robes. For Special Courts-Martial, judges would wear Uniform of the Day and for General Courts-Martial they would wear their dress uniform.