Goofs

After James drops off Sanborn at his barracks, he proceeds to drink some liquor from a bottle before placing it on the table. He puts the bomb suit helmet on in a close up and once the camera zooms back out, the bottle is clearly on the floor next to his bed.

The wheeled 6x6 APC appearing right after the Humvee in the opening scenes is not a US Army vehicle, but a South African made Ratel modified in Jordan with a Ukrainian KMDB BAU-23-2 turret.

After Sanborn puts Thompson's dog tags into the box with Thompson's effects, another soldier puts a cover on the box. In the cut immediately following, Sanborn is looking into the box and the cover is not on.

The last name of the Specialist in the EOD team is "Eldridge," according to his uniform shirt, but in several sequences the name "Eldrich" is clearly visible stitched into the elastic band around the character's Kevlar helmet.

After James puts out the car fire, you can see the reflection of flames still burning in a close up on his helmet.

A bomb is detonated by cell-phone. Every anti-bomb team carries a small device which, when turned on, suppresses all cellular transmissions within several hundred meters around the device, used especially to avoid such accidents. Similar devices are also used in theaters to preclude spectators from using cellphones during performances and by car-thieves to suppress GSM-based tracking devices.

Jeremy Renner is credited as "Staff Sergeant William James," an E-6. However, his character wears the rank of an E-7, Sergeant First Class (3 chevrons and 2 rockers).

Early in the movie, Thompson is seen wearing the Bomb Suit (EOD). The trousers worn appear to be nothing more than canvas trousers with ballistic shin pads, leaving everything between his groin and knees unprotected. The real EOD trousers are Kevlar, with the 'material' being 10-15 mm thick. Given the EOD suit weighs at least 38 kilograms, clearly weight reduction was provided for the actor.

When Eldridge observes the goats on the bridge, his Aimpoint CompM2 is shown with zoom capabilities. The real Aimpoint CompM2 is a red dot sight that has no magnification.

The flags worn on the right sleeves of the soldiers are not correct. The flags have the canton (field with the stars) on the upper left, as is the 'usual' custom, yet Army regulations stipulate that flags worn on the right shoulder should have the canton on the upper right, as if the flag is affixed to a staff at the front of the soldier and the flag is blowing in the wind as the soldier moves forward.

When Eldridge uses his CamelBak to clean the Barrett M107 magazine, the hose is coming from the right side of the sack. The CamelBak hose can be positioned over any shoulder and will not impede someone shooting.

The British Mercenary leader states that his team has captured Al Rawi as the Jack of Clubs in The Most Wanted Playing Deck of cards. This cannot be true, since The Jack of Clubs Al Rawi was never captured and is still at large. However, the British mercenaries might still have believed that they got the right guy.

James would not have been able to put out the raging car fire with a single medium sized fire extinguisher.

The "radio" that SSG (or SFC) James wears on his head is really only ear protection with built-in mics to allow one to hear normal conversation. It has the capability to be connected to a radio, but his isn't.

The Barrett runs out of ammo and James hands Sanborn a fresh magazine of .50 cal ammunition. The magazine only has empty cartridges in it, without any bullets.

When the Iraqi cab driver runs the line and stops inches from James, James pulls his gun and eventually shoots out the car's windshield. The glass shatters as though constructed of tempered glass. A typical windshield is constructed of laminated glass and would leave a well-defined bullet hole if shot.

When disarming an IED you do not hold the blasting cap in your hand while you are cutting the wires.

The iconic shot with the ejected round tumbling on ground after the final shot from the Barrett .50 cal, is actually a much smaller caliber. 7.62 or possibly 5.56, but certainly not .50 cal.

All of the rifle optics throughout the film have no reticles or red-dots.

The spotter techniques used by all characters are grossly incorrect. There is no range or wind call, and the adjustments are made in meters, instead of mils or moa.

When SSG James removes his protective gear after seeing the very large bomb in the trunk of the car, his name tape and US Army tape are backwards. the US Army tape is always on the left, while a Soldier's name is on his or her right. It is backwards in this scene.

One character says an Iraqi with a video camera is preparing a clip for YouTube. The scene takes place in 2004. YouTube was created in 2005.

Specialist Eldridge plays Gears of War (2006) on an Xbox 360 when Colonel Cambridge enters the room to counsel him. The Xbox 360 was first released 2005; Gears of War debuted in November 2006. Yet the setting is Baghdad in 2004.

In the movie, all the soldiers are wearing the digital ACU (Army Combat Uniform). While the opening scene takes place in Baghdad in 2004, the first units to be issued the ACU did not receive them until February of 2005. The correct uniform for the time period would have been the three color DCU (Desert Combat Uniform).

When the EOD team goes out to meet the soldiers who abandoned their vehicle at the beginning of the movie, one of the soldiers is wearing body armor with deltoid (upper arm) protectors. These were not introduced until late 2007/early 2008.

The three Ministry songs played in this movie were from the album Rio Grande Blood, which was released in 2006. The movie is set in 2004.

When Sgt. James removes the bomb from Beckham's stomach, you can see a crew member in the background behind the curtain. Sgt. James is supposed to be the only person in the building.

In the scene with the man in the suicide vest, what appear to be the outline of knee pads under his pants are visible as he goes to his knees.

As the building which holds the "body bomb" is being searched, James and Sanborn are ahead while Eldridge bringing up the rear. When Eldridge rounds one corner there is the clear outline of a crew member standing in front of the camera and he quickly has to step aside so we (the camera operator) can see.

In the desert stand-off, after shooting the enemy sniper, a rock to Sanborn's right side is completely in shadow. The shadow is cast by a parasol on a tripod which is positioned to protect the actors, but has been moved aside for the shot. The parasol is on a stand, which casts a shadow across the foreground in front of the actors.

After the contractor leader's death, another contractor reports by radio incoming fire. You can see a moving head in the background.

It is apparent that the location set was Jordan, not Iraq. In one scene, a wall displays a Jordanian soccer team's name drawn in Arabic; in another, a cell phone shop has an ad for a Jordanian cell phone provider (Umniah). Both are purely Jordanian.

LTC Cambridge wears two U.S. flags on his ACUs. The flag is only worn on the right shoulder. The spot on the left shoulder where he wears the extra flag is reserved for special skill tabs.

Sgt. Sanborn has a Combat Infantrymans Badge CIB) along with a Parachutist Badge. Posession of a CIB would be highly unlikely due to the fact that OEF and OIF had just begun, and his tenure in the armed forces is probably no more than 10 years. Aside from small scale Special Operations skirmishes, the last combat theater where one would likely recieve this award would be in the early 90s. It's almost impossible that he served as a Infantryman in OIF, and reclassed to the time consuming MOS of an EOD technician in under 2 years.

Also, he wears his Parachutist Badge above the CIB. The CIB is worn above the Parachutists Badge.

In the opening sequence, an Arabic voice can be heard shouting "Youjed hunak qunbilah" in an accent that is clearly not Iraqi. There is also a grammatical error, but it is a normal error, given the fact that most Arabs don't usually speak excellent standard Arabic. Most of the Iraqis who worked with the American army were not highly educated (not that they cared).

As James steps off the Marine helicopter at the end of the film, the SSgt (E-6) greets him with, "Welcome....Sergeant." The next shot shows James wearing Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) chevrons on his cover. A junior Marine would always address him as "Gunney" or "Gunnery Sergeant."

Accordi g to Army Regulation 600-63 smoking is prohibited in military vehicles and aircraft. At various points in the film SFC James smokes a cigarette in the Humvee. As a senior NCO he should know this. Even if he's highest ranking soldier present it doesn't mean he can ignore the regulations. Although he has shown himself to be reckless and negligent when disarming IEDs, smoking a cigarette in the Humvee only shows that despite his rank he doesn't care about regulations.