Goofs

The rear view mirror disappears and reappears in Kaffee's car when Markinson is in the back seat while in the same field of view.

After Kaffee's walk with Weinberg and his baby, discussing the forthcoming trip to Cuba, Kaffee leaves to get into his car, his shirt tail is in and out.

The night before the first day of trial Kaffee opens the door to let Weinberg and Galloway out of his apartment. As they walk to the door Weinberg opens the door again, but it had already been opened.

Throughout Lt. Kaffee's first meeting with Lt. Commander Galloway, the stain on Kaffee's shirt appears and disappears.

During the Court room scuffle when Col Jessep threatens to rip the eyes out of Kaffee's head with the MP's restraining him, Jessep's tie is slightly ruffled. However, after he turns around and picks up his hat, his tie is so far around his neck it is hardly visible.

A Judge Advocate has the same qualified immunity as any other attorney arguing a defense. The premise that he could be subject to Court Martial for Professional Misconduct if he accuses Jessop and Kendrick of a crime is preposterous. He could be prosecuted however for failing to do so if it was necessary in the defense of the accused and if he, in good faith, believes that they may be guilty of said crime.

When Lt Weinberg bring in the 2 USAF Airmen towards the end of Col Jessep's testimony with the intention of Col Jessep seeing them and influencing his testimony, this would not be allowed in a military court for this very reason. In a Court Martial proceeding, these 2 Airmen would have been kept in a chamber outside the courtroom until it was their time to testify.

In both the United States Navy and Marine Corps, salutes are not rendered while uncovered (not wearing a hat). This occurs throughout the film. The correct equivalent is to simply come to attention.

There is no such thing as "conduct unbecoming a Marine" under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The closest thing to it is what is known as "Article 133" (Conduct Unbecoming) which could carry 'dismissal' as a possible punishment, since it's only applicable to Officers (Bad Conduct and Dishonorable discharges only apply to enlisted personnel). As ENLISTED personnel what the third charge SHOULD have been was Article 128 - Assault Consummated by Battery, which carries a custodial sentence usually followed by a Bad Conduct Discharge. Most cases of "Dishonorable Discharge" heard about in media (papers, TV, Movies) are actually Bad Conduct discharges, since the only charges that carry a dishonorable discharge are the most serious ones (Attempted Murder, Murder, Sexual Assault, Desertion, and Treason)

There are apparently three officers in Col Jessep's unit including Col Jessep, and no Non-Comissioned Officers above the rank of Corporal. In reality, a Marine Platoon Commander such as Kendrick would answer to a Company Commander (a Captain), who would in turn answer to a Battalion Commander (a Lieutenant Colonel), and the Battalion Commander would report to Col Jessep (equivalent to a Brigade Commander). Each officer would have an NCO counterpart of appropriate rank serving as his senior enlisted advisor. A Platoon Commander would be assisted by a Platoon Sergeant (a Staff Sergeant or Gunnery Sergeant), a Company Commander by a First Sergeant, and a Battalion Commander by a Sergeant Major. Col Jessep would also have a Sergeant Major who reports directly to him, who would be his senior advisor on all issues pertaining to the enlisted men in his unit. Kendrick's Company and Battalion Commander's are noticeably absent from the film as are any of the senior enlisted advisers who would certainly have had an interest in the welfare and discipline of the Marine who's death becomes the focus of the film.

Danny and Joanne didn't advise Downey that he can negotiate the terms of a plea bargain by himself, separate from Dawson because they both played a role in Santiago's death.

When Danny concludes his first meeting with Dawson and Downey in the interrogation room, he reminds them the governments is charging them with murder, even though they're being charged with manslaughter, not murder, he most likely said murder to emphasize the seriousness of their case.

In Cuba, Kaffee and Weinberg are advised to wear camouflage over their navy whites to protect them against snipers who might spot them as officers. Even though they leave their white caps on their heads, their heads are smaller targets as opposed to their shirts. Furthermore, since they are traveling by a jeep, their viewed as moving targets which becomes even harder to hit accurately.

Throughout the movie Danny and characters refer to each other by their full first and last names because Danny is friends and colleagues with Sam and Jack, Danny addresses Jo by her first name because she allowed him to when they were outside his office before she tells him she's accompanying him to Cuba the next day.

In the airport scene at Guantanamo, when Cpl. Barnes arrives to pick up Naval officers Kaffe, Weinberg, and Galloway as they are getting off of the airplane, Barnes fails to don his cap (or cover, in military terminology), come to attention and salute the officers. Most military branches don't allow members to wear covers around aircraft as they tend to fly off heads and may damage aircraft propellers or engines. If anything, Barnes should just come to attention and acknowledge the officers and then wait for a "carry on" or "at ease."

Kaffee's car has D.C. tags but the windshield shows Virginia inspection and county stickers.

When Captain Ross returns to his desk after questioning Corporal Barnes, you can see him lift The Marine Corps Guide for Sentry Duty so that Lt. Kaffee can grab it from his hand.

In the last courtroom scene, after Col. Jessep has struggled with the Marine in an attempt to get at Kaffee, you can clearly see stage makeup smeared on his shirt collar and tie.

When Kaffee is in his office getting ready to go to Cuba, a shot is used twice. Before we go in the office, a shot of the building is shown and various uniformed people are seen walking. In the far left you can make out Kaffee's car pulling away. After Kaffee and Galloway leave the office and walk to his car (which is now parked on the right), that outside shot is used again. Kaffey pulls away and drives off to the left. You will notice this is the same shot as used before, just timed differently.

After the trial is over, a Marine comes to escort the two defendants away and says he has to take them to personnel to process paperwork, implying they are now to be discharged and sent home. In actuality, especially since a Dishonorable Discharge is involved, there would be a *lengthy* appeals process which would last at least several weeks while the trial was reviewed, and the sentence adjudicated by a higher authority. This process is almost as important as the trial itself, and Kaffee would not be behaving as if everything was now over, and his clients were going home.

Some have said that Markinson did not put his belt through the buckle while dressing. The belt is a Sam Browne belt, the belt is always through both sides of the buckle and the belt actually fastens with 2 hooks behind the buckle to keep from having to put wear on the belt by running it through the buckle each time you put it on.

Throughout the film, dates are spoken or written in the MM/DD/YYYY format and with ordinal numbers (e.g. "1st", "2nd", "3rd" and so forth). In all military settings, worldwide, dates are always written in the international standard format DD/mmm/YY, with the month always abbreviated in print to its first three letters. For example, the date June 29, 2022 would be written as 29 Jun 22, and spoken out loud as "Twenty-nine June twenty-two"). Even the format has a format, where upper case (DD & YY) are numbers and lower case are letters. This format is to avoid confusion between the various world military services when working together, and since the U.S is part of NATO and ANZUS treaties, and also participate in RimPac exercises, they deal with a LOT of different militaries.

The sign on Santiago's dorm room shows his initials as "S.L.", but it's established that his full name is William T. Santiago.

A shot shows a letter written by William T. Santiago, a low-level Marine, displaying a watermark of Strathmore Writing paper, a high-end, costly stationery, highly unlikely to be used by Santiago on a Marine base in Guantanamo Bay.

In the 1990's if you drive on the base. You will have a vehicle tag in the left hand lower windshield. For that year. He had none for the navy.

In one of the scenes in Kaffee's apartment he is watching a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Baltimore Orioles. The game is won at the end by the Orioles. This actual game took place on June 17, 1991, and was when the Orioles ended the Twins 15 game winning streak during that season, even though the movie was supposed to take place in September of 1992. Another game Kaffee watched on TV between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres, where a home run tied the game at 10, occurred on May 23, 1991, a game San Diego eventually won 11-10 in 12 innings.

After Kaffee says "I want the truth!" the reverberation of his voice in the courtroom cuts off abruptly when the shot switches to Jessep giving his retort.

After Jessep says, "I have been promoted up through the chain with greater speed and success than you have," you can see from behind he is still speaking but with no dialog (widescreen version).

When Galloway confronts the drunk Danny about why he asked for the transfer order from Jessep, on the line where she mentions the Pentagon, what she is saying obviously does not match up with her lips.

When Kaffee gets into his car and Markinson is sitting in the back seat, set lights are visible in Markinson's glasses in the close-ups.

After the first day of testimony, the plot segues to Kaffee's apartment at night by showing a sunset over Washington. However, the shot angle - from the Iwo Jima Memorial looking towards the Washington Monument and the US Capitol - looks to the east and therefore is looking at a sunrise.

Even though Kaffee is said to be one of the best lawyers in his office, the brazen disrespect he shows Galloway during their first meetings (eating food in her office, walking out without being dismissed, as well as his general sarcastic and condescending attitude) would be more than enough to get him into some fairly significant trouble with his superiors, regardless of how popular he was or how many other senior attorneys he knew.

At no point in the film is a court stenographer seen.

In the interview room, LCpl. Dawson issues the order "Officer on deck, Ten Hut". The Navy and Marine Corps call to attention when an officer enters the room is simply to order, "Attention on Deck". He repeats a similar order at the end of the film.

The jury for Dawson and Downey's court martial was comprised entirely of officers. It seems that Kaffee neglected to tell his clients that as enlisted Marines, they have the right to request that at least 1/3 of the jury be comprised of enlisted personnel.

Kendrick is outranked by Ross but never addresses him as "Sir" during his testimony. While it's possible that his disdain for Kaffee would cause him to lose his military bearing on cross-examination, it's highly unlikely that he would fail to acknowledge Ross's rank.

When Col Jessep orders his clerk to get the White House on the phone the clerk responds with, "Yes, sir." In the Marine Corps the proper response for "order understood and will be carried out" is "Aye-aye, sir."

Throughout the movie, Santiago is mentioned as being "transferred off the base (Guantanamo Bay)" It is never mentioned where he is being transferred to, e.g., what command, unit, installation, etc. Kaffee and Galloway should have questioned Jessep about this. As Judge Advocate General Corps lawyers investigating a murder of a U.S. Marine under his command, they would have a right to know this information.