Corrected entry: During the ceremony scene at the end of the movie when they are presenting the medal to Brian Davis Jr, they never mention his father's name or even his name. The only name that is mentioned is his civilian director.
Corrected entry: The soldiers in Danny DeVito's class are far too unruly in a military class. Even though he is a civilian the soldiers act like animals. In actuality behavior like that would have been met with strict punishment by their Drill Sergeant.
Correction: Only if the Drill Sergeant a) found out about it, and b) cared. In this movie, it is clear that Rago does not know anything about military procedure and protocol, so he never knows what to expect, and never complains about them. And the only time the sergeant is made aware of this, he is listening in secret and decides not to interfere because the soldiers are giving Rago such a hard time. He wants Rago to quit, and the best way of doing this is to allow the soldiers to run amok in his class.
Corrected entry: In the scene in the chow hall when Miranda is talking to Bill about his stint on the Victory Tower, she is wearing her hat. As a former member of the United States Army (and trainee at Fort Jackson-where a lot of the film was shot) I can say with true certainty that a soldier is not supposed to wear his or her "lid" in-doors. Only once outside, must he or she put it on. If a drill instructor had seen that, Miranda would have been reprimanded. (01:15:47)
Correction: The only time you can wear your lid indoors is if you're working KP, which she was doing at the time.
Correction: The point of not saying his name was to build suspense for the recruits and those gathered there. The fact that he gives it to Davis Jr. makes it clear who the soldier is, so there was no need to say his name (it also built some suspense for the film audience, even though it was already clear whom they were talking about.) However, after presenting him with the Silver Star, we don't see the rest of the ceremony and therefore it's possibly they say Brian Davis Sr.'s name.
Bishop73