Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor (2013)

5 factual errors - chronological order

(5 votes)

Factual error: When the seals are tumbling down the mountain one of them almost lands on a rattlesnake. There are no rattlesnakes native to Afghanistan or any other part of Asia. They occur only in the western hemisphere.

Dyke Howell

Factual error: In the scene at the evacuation hospital doctors are seen administering shocks to Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) with paddles. The EKG shows a flatline. In reality, medical personnel do not give shocks for a flatline - a "shock" is to correct Ventricular Fibrillation into a normal sinus rhythm, if you have a systole there is no muscle activity in the cardiac area and a manual shock will not achieve anything.

Mark J. Boucher

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: That's not true. If ever you do a first aid course they will point out that on arrival, paramedics will replace your AED with their defib precisely because their defib will shock no pulse, whereas an AED that you might find in public spaces will not.

No professional medical professional would shock a flatline patient. They would start chest compressions until they could determine why the heart stopped. Ventricular Fibrillation or Ventricular Tachycardia, where shocking may help, does not register as a flatline. The mistake is valid and doesn't need to be corrected.

Bishop73

Factual error: In many shots we see a Marc Lee memorial patch. Marc Lee was killed August 2, 2006. Operation Redwing was June 28, 2005, more than a year earlier.

Factual error: During the final attack on the village by Apache helicopters, they are shown with front-mounted machine guns instead of the 30mm cannon. Apaches are not armed with a front machine gun.

Factual error: Throughout the film, the SEALs are seen wearing Mechanix gloves, but the type seen are the current type. What distinguishes them from older models is the velcro wrist strap. The older models had an elastic, velcro strap, while the newer ones have a reinforced, rubberized velcro strap. The newer type as seen in the film is inaccurate for the time period.

Matdan97

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Marcus is removing the shrapnel from his leg, when he gets to the last and largest piece, he places the medallion from his necklace in his mouth to bite down on. As the scene transitions from the leg to his face as it is removed, he appears to no longer have the medallion in his mouth. Then once the shrapnel is removed, he collapses and still has the medallion in his mouth.

David Dyer

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Trivia: Marcus Luttrell named his dog DASY in memory of his team that was killed (Dietz, Axe, Southern Boy [Luttrell], and Yankee [Murphy]). DASY was shot and killed on April 1, 2009 by four men who approached Luttrell's yard. As the four men fled in their vehicle, Luttrell gave chase in his car until police intervened. Luttrell refused the 911 dispatcher's instruction to stop chasing the men.

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Question: What did they mean in their meeting about no medicine on the mission?

Answer: The exact quote was "there's no medicine in a gunfight," meaning the SEALs couldn't just stop shooting at the enemy to help another SEAL who was injured. They're speaking more broadly of the "Self-aid" concept, where each person needs to look out for himself until someone else can come provide medical assistance.

Excellent answer.

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