Stripes

Question: Why are Czechoslovak border guards speaking Russian? The Soviet Red Army would not be guarding the border with West Germany.

Answer: In 1981 Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact and thus under the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union would not fully allow the satellite states to do their own border security, so Soviet guards were placed.

lionhead

Question: Given that Sergeant Hulka was only the platoon's drill sergeant, that means his authority should have been done once they graduated from basic training. So why did he turn up in Germany and continue to give them orders?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: According to the movie's premise and plot, once they (the platoon) impressed the brass at graduation and was assigned to the Germany gig with the "EM-50", Sgt. Hulka would naturally be with them as he was their original commanding officer. Plus, it would be logical to suggest that he would personally assign himself the detail of overseeing his platoon as they were his to begin with.

CCARNI

He's assigned as a Drill Sergeant, that is his job. Once he was fully healed he would have been assigned another group of recruits.

Answer: He wanted to make sure that they don't screw up this very important assignment, which they did.

Question: When the guys are in that bar, the police raid it. Why do they do this? The place not have a license to operate or something?

Rob245

Answer: The mud wrestling is a form of gambling, betting money on winning. The bar probably didn't have a gambling permit.

lionhead

Factual error: Even in the '80s obesity was a strict disqualification for military service. John Candy wouldn't have had a chance of passing the required medical.

More mistakes in Stripes

John Winger: We are Americans with a capital A, huh? You know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuge. We're the underdogs. We're the mutts.

More quotes from Stripes

Trivia: The "kitchen utensil" scene between Bill Murray and PJ Soles was completely improvised.

More trivia for Stripes

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