Despite being an anti-Afghanistan war movie, Pentagon reporter Helene Cooper spoke with The New York Times podcast "The Daily" that "everybody at the Pentagon is talking about (War Machine). It's a very anti-Afghanistan war movie, but the guys who you think would be offended by it, love it", Cooper added. "It's amazing to me. So many of them have lost colleagues, they've lost fellow soldiers and are constantly asking, 'What are we still doing there? What are we fighting for?' But at the same time, we have these officers who say, 'We've lost all these people in Afghanistan, we've spent so much blood and treasure on the ground in that country, and then you just turn around and pull out. What was that for?' It's a contradiction at the same time."
The statue visited by General Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) after his press conference is located at the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) in Berlin, Germany. It is a enlarged version of Käthe Kollwitz "Pietà". Though the original was not sculpted for this purpose, it was placed as a memorial to all Victims of War and Dictatorship.
Alan Ruck plays United States Ambassador to Afghanistan Patrick McKinnon which loosely based on Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, who was the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan from April 29, 2009 - July 25, 2011. Similar with Gen. McMahon and Lt. Gen. McKinnon relationship the movie, in the real-life Gen. Stanley McChrystal which the character Gen. Glen McMahon was based on also often got into conflict with Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry. At some point Gen. McChrystal also felt "betrayed" by Lt. Gen. Eikenberry. The hostility between Gen. McChrystal and Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry was also mentioned in the 2010 Rolling Stones magazine article "The Runaway General" which led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
The scene in the war room where General Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) briefs his team about launching the operation on Kandahar/Helmand, before approaching Karzai for permission to execute, Foxy can be seen around the map table. Foxy is a television adviser for production in high risk situations. Featured in "SAS: Who Dares Wins", a military reality competition on ITV. He is a real special forces veteran with experience in Afghanistan while serving with the Royal Marines and the Special Boat Service.
Near the end of the movie, Glen McMahon says "you wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs". This is the same line Tyler Durden, also played by Brad Pitt, says in the movie Fight Club (1999).
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