Goofs

Just before the officer candidates take the oath and graduate, a recruit announces, "All officers present." The candidates' swords are up on their shoulders, but in the next shot, the swords are in their scabbards.

Just before the fight seen between Mayo and Foley, Mayo has red marks on his back probably from previous takes. Then later on in the fight scene the red marks disappear.

When Mayo, Worley, and Seeger are doing push-ups for talking in the ranks, Worley's helmet disappears, reappears, and changes position. Mayo's helmet flips over.

Before Foley and Mayo fight, Foley walks onto the platform and removes his previously untied shoes.

In the factory cafeteria when Paula is trying to reach Zack on the phone, a co-worker mentions to Lynette that it's 3:40 p.m. on a Friday, and she's not bragging about their weekend plans. A moment later, when Paula runs from the cafeteria to find Zack, the clock on the cafeteria wall reads 12:50 p.m.

For the entire movie, Gunnery Sergeant Foley is called either "Sir" or "Sergeant". While DIs at OCS are called "Sir" (despite being enlisted), a Gunnery Sergeant is never called just "Sergeant".

During the graduation ceremony the students are wearing the Service Dress White uniform and the reviewing officers are wearing Service Dress Blues. In reality they would be wearing all the same uniform one way or the other but never different as uniform season requirements are dictated by a senior officer (usually an admiral in control of the Naval region).

At the end, as Mayo is riding out of the base, he stops to watch Foley greet a new batch of candidates. It's entertaining cinema to share Zack's amusement, but drill Instructors always get leave after concluding a training cycle, so Foley would not have been performing that intake ritual.

Foley talk in the beginning about getting "college pubes" to DOR (drop on request). The minimum requirement for an officer candidate is to have a bachelor's degree.

In actual Officer Candidate School, each Recruit Company has a Company Officer (normally a Navy Lieutenant), Recruit Commander (a Navy Chief), and their Senior DI who is typically a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant. In Zack and Sid's class, it is implied that Foley is running everything, and never are seen the corresponding Navy Chief recruit commander or the company officer.

Some may object to Gunnery Sergeant Foley referring to newly-commissioned Ensign Seegar as "sir". This goes back to the training scene where Foley was telling then officer candidate Seegar, whose role was to act out of shape for the wall climbing scene, "You can never give orders to men!" It was not fully accepted at the time to address a female officer by her gender, but by the uniform. It was not until following years that this was regarded as outdated and unfair. Eventually, female officers would be addressed by their gender. Before the gender acceptance of women officers having authority over men of lower rank, it was not uncommon to refer to a woman officer as "sir" because the rank itself is masculine. Also, some women think that using "ma'am" reinforces their femininity and undermines their authority, and prefer to be called by the honorific "sir".

Credits list Paula's last name as Pokrifki. Her parents are listed as Pokrifiki.

Discrepancies between a character's name in the film and the credits are classified as "Unacceptable Goofs" per IMDb guidelines.

When Sid is bragging about Lynnette, he says "best head in 52 states".

It's obvious that Sid is exaggerating for effect.

After walking the wall, Seeger steps in a hole, stumbles, and almost falls down, as she and Mayo jog to the end of the obstacle course.

Foley asks Zack where he got the tattoo, to which he responds, "Subic Base". He meant "Subic Bay." The U.S. had a naval station there, but military and families would just say the city or location. Also, he would have gotten it in town (Olongapo), not on base.

In fact, Zack does say "Subic Bay"; the captioning incorrectly has "Subic Base", but looking at Richard Gere's mouth when he says the words, it's obvious that he says "bay" not "base".

Tattoo on Mayo's arm appears and disappears from scene to scene, even though short sleeve length of shirt that does or doesn't expose it doesn't vary that much.

During a fluid dynamics lecture, at least one candidate is performing calculations with a slide rule. By 1982, that instrument had been obsolete for about ten years. Few students of that age even knew how to operate one.

In the scene on the beach outside of the Tides Motel after Sid is found dead, an ambulance siren is heard. In fact Sid's body had been seen being loaded into coroner's vehicle. Normally a coroner's wagon would not be running a siren to avoid causing unnecessary confusion to other drivers.

When Sgt Foley has the new recruits lined up and tells them that they will fail, the dolly tracks of the camera are visible. Foley can be seen to carefully step between the rails.

The beginning is set in Seattle, Washington, but when Zack gets on his motorcycle to leave from his father's house, it is outside the Naval Base in Bremerton, Washington, on the other side of Puget Sound. Seattle does not have a Naval home port.

Paula is showing grieving heavily and crying after she punches out early from the factory as her mother consoles her, having been told that Zach had already left, yet that very same evening she is seen at TJ's with a new date at the same time that Mayo and his friends are there.

When returning from liberty to find candidate Mayo scrubbing the stairway, candidates Perryman and Worley both enter the building covered. Unless on official duty or under arms, personnel are required to remove covers promptly upon entering any building.

Gunnery Sergeant Foley says at the beginning to the women candidates not to expect special treatment. Yet, in the very next scene when Segar, a woman, is doing push-ups next to Zack and Sid, Foley lets her go after only three push-ups, whereas Zack and Sid had done fifty push-ups and had to start over after seeing Lynette and Paula.

When candidate Mayo is leaving the base on his motorcycle, three sailors walk in front of him while he is stopped at an intersection. These sailors would normally have saluted him as his Ensign's insignia and sleeve stripes are clearly visible.