Character mistake: When the Marines are navigating through the Paris Island obstacle course, Hartman is shouting "It should take you no less than 10 seconds to negotiate this obstacle!" In other words, the LONGER it takes someone to get across, the better? (00:13:27)
Character mistake: Hartman calls the "beds" bunks. Marines always refer to them as a rack.
Character mistake: When Sgt Hartman is giving the lesson about Charles Whitman, he says that he killed 12 people - in reality he killed 17. (00:30:00)
Chosen answer: A Drill Instructor is always mad at the recruits in order to forge discipline. Private Pyle was the biggest screwup in the unit, thus creating more work for him.
Captain Defenestrator