Stupidity: After Alpa Chino and Lazarus force the Flaming Dragon goons to the ground, neither man bothers to collect the goons' AK-47's which are loaded with real bullets (and lying very close to the goons themselves) while Chino and Lazarus' weapons only have blanks.
Stupidity: During the gun battles with the "Tropic Thunder" actors, not one of the Flaming Dragon soldiers notice there is something strange about how the actors are firing their weapons (i.e, in the air, over the heads of the Flaming Dragons, etc.) or that there is no damage inflicted when the actors are shooting at or near objects in the area. Those two factors alone would tip off the Flaming Dragons that blanks were being used in the weapons of the actors.
Answer: There were 3 other survivors. Only they presumably told the truth. Since Four Leafs made up his version, his more than likely seemed more entertaining. So his book was chosen to be made into a movie.
Carl Missouri