Patzer

When the platoon finds the bunker complex, the Lieutenant sends Taylor and Washington out to guard the flank. Washington has a pack of Marlboros stuck in his helmet. Once he reaches his position, it is a pack of Kools in his helmet.

At the bunker complex, Sergeant Elias goes into the tunnels. In one shot he goes through some water, but in the following shots he is dry.

In the third battle (Ambushed by VC), the machine gunner (Morehouse) was hit spot on by an artillery shell from friendly fire and was shattered into pieces by the explosion. When the troops evacuated, his quite complete body, although charred, was the first one taken out.

When leaving the burning village, SSG. Barnes' left eye is black. When he and Sgt. Elias return to base camp and have a discussion with the Captain, Barnes' right eye is black.

Towards the end of the movie where Chris (Charlie Sheen) finds Sgt. Barnes wounded, Sgt. Barnes's shirt initially and covered in sweat and blood. Right before Chris shoots him, his shirt is ripped on his right side and mostly dry. Present as well is a big patch of dried blood (black) on his right hand, not visible in the previous shot.

In the attack on the camp, two NVA/VC soldiers are acting as suicide bombers (one falls and explodes, the other makes it into the communication bunker before blowing up). In the script, these two men are identified as sappers. NVA and VC Sappers were specially trained combat engineers/reconnaissance commandos who used stealth to infiltrate a camp's defenses and take out strategic targets, such as barbed wire obstacles or bunkers, with explosives before the main attack. Although there indeed were reports of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops using suicide bombers during the war, sappers were never used as suicide bombers because they were considered too valuable to expend.

When King is getting ready to board the helicopter to take him back to the rear before the final battle, he places two 100 round belts of M-60 ammo over his shoulder and chest. In reality, he would not be taking ammo back to the rear with him. The soldiers in the field would have taken it for use in a future enemy encounter. He, also, had a water proof bag in his hand that he would not have carried like a laundry bag in the field. It would have been inside his rucksack.

Taylor arrives in Vietnam wearing the unit insignia of the 25th Infantry Division. Low-ranking enlisted infantry replacements did not arrive in Vietnam with unit assignments, or insignia, but were assigned to line units as required.

The uniformed enemy VC/NVA troops are often depicted wearing Soviet Army steel helmets; steel helmets were only worn by North Vietnamese artillery or anti-aircraft troops protecting base camps in Cambodia, Laos, and areas in North Vietnam. The VC/NVA troops ought to be wearing either floppy "boonie-hats" (for the Viet Cong) or the standard sun helmet (for North Vietnamese troops).

During the VC ambush when Elias is trying to convince Barnes to let him take a squad on a flanking maneuver he mentions the battle of Ia Drang in 1966 where he says he saw VC soldiers "cut us to pieces" in a crossfire. In reality the battle of Ia Drang was fought November 14-18 1965.

As Chris is firing at the villagers' feet in the hut, no fired shell casings are being ejected from the rifle.

When the booby trapped device (box with Vietcong maps) in the bunker explodes, it rips off the arms of one of the soldiers. When he stumbles out of the bunker and dies, his hands are visible hanging out under his T-shirt.

During the scene where Chris (Charlie Sheen) gets his second taste of marijuana through the shotgun barrel handled by Elias (Willem Dafoe), Elias first racks the slide back and forwards, meaning the bolt is now closed. However, when Elias starts to blow smoke into the barrel the bolt is now at the back position and open. In order for Elias to truly use the shotgun to blow smoke through the barrel the shotgun bolt would have to be at the open position..Meaning the "back and forwards" slide of the shotgun in the beginning of the scene was a editing error.

Immediately after Captain Harris orders Lt. Wolfe to remain in place and fight the VC offensive, there is a shot of VC soldiers moving into the perimeter. There are several US soldiers in holes with their rifles pointed in the direction of the enemy, but none appear to fire their weapons, and one actor casually swings his legs up and down, apparently unaware that the cameras are rolling.

Some of Sgt. Barnes's scars on his body can be seen partially peeling off.

In the scene where bunny is at the base camp talking with junior in his bunk bunny pops open a can of beer with a can opener in the very next scene not less that 5 seconds later bunny sits down to open the same can of beer once more..

In the scene when the two soldiers are investigating Vietcong clues found in the bunker one of the soldiers has a half smoked black n mild cigar in his mouth in the very next scene he has a long full one in his mouth..

When the men are playing cards, one of the men is looking at a Playboy from March 1971, despite the film taking place in 1967.

Set in 1967, features Bunny listening to Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee," not released until 1969.

When they board the UH-1 Huey near the church right before the scene where Sgt Elias gets chased, a Philippine Air Force insignia can be seen on the tail boom of the helicopter. The PAF did not operate in Vietnam.

The "drug den" uses miniature Christmas lights. They only had 7-watt c-7 Christmas lights in 1968.

When the soldiers are celebrating in the tent early in the film, they are drinking Budweiser from two-piece stay-tab cans with UPC symbols. Container companies introduced the two-piece can in 1974, the stay-tab in 1975 and the UPC symbol in 1978. Budweiser introduced the can style used in the movie in 1981.

Francis (Corey Glover) is seen, on the morning after the last battle, stabbing himself in the thigh of his right leg. As he is shown in the medevac chopper, it is his left leg that is bandaged.

During the opening credits, when the men are first hiking through the jungle, Big Harold slips and rolls down a hillside towards the camera. The camera operator's hand can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen trying to stop the actor's fall.

When Elias (Willem Dafoe) is being chased by North Vietnamese soldiers, it can be seen that he clenches the trigger in his left hand that fires the blood pack squibs. At one point, when he lifts his arm out from the body, the wire can be seen.

(at around 48 mins) In the village, the soldiers are supposed to have secured the perimeter and are interrogating the villagers, but a random person is walking casually far in the background.

When Sandy and Sal are investigating the bunker they come across a reused ammo-box filled with maps. The map shown is actually of the British Isles with Ireland, most of England and northern France plainly visible. A local VC/NVA unit would have no interest in detailed maps of Europe.

Near the beginning, it is stated to be September 1967 (somewhere near the Cambodian Border). Not much later, after Chris returns from his first injury, he is cleaning out the latrines with King and Crawford. King has 39 days left on his tour (unknown end date) and Crawford 92 days (end date April 17 1968). Taylor has 332 days left so he has been there for a little over a month. This means the current date must be somewhere toward the end of October 1967, meaning King's last day should be mid-December 1967, and Crawford has a whole lot more than 92 days left. Later on, the bunker and village scene occurs on New Year's Day 1968. (It's important that it occurred at the start of 1968 as this is likely a metaphor for the changing US view of the war both on the home front and at the strategic level. This is the time the platoon begins to disintegrate, and Barnes takes control while the platoon's factions become far more open.) In the prelude to the end, which occurs during or later than Jan 1968, King exclaims "I'm too short for this s**t", but he gets a lifeline when his home orders come in. Despite being months overdue, he is happy when he thinks they have made a mistake in his favor, when, in reality, he should have been long gone by this point.

In right upper corner, when they are "emptying the shitter."

Visible above King's head when he lights his cigarette.

The characters in the movie are in the Army, but on the cover, the dog tags that make up the two "O"s in Platoon read USMC.

At one point, a character is warned not to drink from a river because he might get malaria. While drinking the water could cause any number of diseases, malaria is not one of them, as it can only be transmitted by insect bite.

When Taylor, King and Crawford are cleaning the latrines, King says he has 39 days left to serve and will be released from duty in March, while Crawford says he has 92 and will be released on April 17th. With 53 days - nearly 8 weeks - separating their discharges and Crawford out on April 17th, King would be out in February, not March.

One of the officers in the Battalion Command Post bunker that is suicide-bombed during the final battle, while he is initially surprised, seems strangely unconcerned otherwise when the bomber rushes inside.

All throughout the movie Elias Grodin is referred to as Sargent Elias. Military protocol dictates that personnel are to addressed by rank and last name or on occasion rank and full name, but never rank and first name. Even Captain Harris addresses him as Sargent Elias.