Continuity: When Cortez gets out a photo of his wife pregnant, the photo changes between shots. She is facing a different direction in the next shot. His USMC tattoo, however, stays the same direction throughout the scene.

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.

Audio problem: In the scene where the guys held down Troy to burn him with the USMC symbol, and he's crying on the floor, you see Jake Gyllenhaal's character move in and you can hear him whisper, "You earned it, man," but if you read his lips, he is actually mouthing "Asshole!"

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.

Continuity: After the Christmas party and the fireworks blowing up, Swofford is seen sitting at a table drinking Crystal Geyser spring water and talking to Jamie Foxx. Between shots the front of the bottle keeps moving to continually show the Crystal Geyser logo facing the camera for perfect product placement.

Continuity: In the scene where Swofford is threatening to shoot Fergus, in all the frontal shots we see that Swofford's face and ear are touching the end of the rifle. In all of the shots from behind, his face and ear are no where near the rifle. There isn't enough time for him to move the rifle away from his face between shots.