Factual error: In the scene where Swofford is playing the bugle a water tower in the background has an Air Combat Command emblem which is used by the Air Force and would not be seen on a marine base.
Suggested correction: That part of the movie was filmed at a Naval Air Facility in my hometown. That movie theater where they were watching Apocalypse Now was also in the same said NAF.
Factual error: When the marine troops arrive at the airport in Saudi Arabia, they arrive on what is a TWA Boeing 747-400, which is evidenced by the extended upper deck and winglets. This is a factual error because TWA never in its history flew 747-400s, only 747-100s and -200s, which have shorter upper decks and no winglets on the wings. In addition, this aircraft and several other planes that are visible on the airport tarmac are painted in TWA's old paint scheme (livery) from the 1970s, which they no longer had painted on any of their planes at the time of the first Gulf War.
Factual error: When the platoon crested the dune in Kuwait and came upon the Highway of Death, all the vehicles were going in the wrong direction. They were traveling south, not north to Iraq. Saudi is located west southwest of Kuwait and the only way the Marines could have approached the convoy in that scene would have been if they crossed over it once before or went completely around, through Kuwait City and then headed northwest.
Factual error: In the scorpion fight scene, Cortez is holding a new five dollar bill, seen from the back.
Factual error: When Swofford is burning the sh*tters, he says he used diesel fuel and matches. In reality, diesel fuel will not burn with matches, like we see it do in the film.
Factual error: When SSGT Sykes is showing the reporters how the drinking tubes work on the M17 A1 field protective masks he's passing out the canteens. On one of the canteen tops, the style of gas mask top for the canteen wasn't around in 1991, when the movie is set, but would have been widely available in 2005 to 2006 when this movie was filmed.
