Continuity mistake: When Po is killed by the NVA it is the middle of the night, Captains Cahill and Doyle are close enough to the village to hear the shots and rush back to the village but as they enter the village it is early dawn.
Continuity mistake: Preparing the crate for Bo-Tat's second airdrop In the beginning of the scene we see A.J (the black guy from the 101st) putting on a welding mask, the very next shot we see Farley (the white guy not from the 101st) is shown welding while A.J (who is now wearing his steel pot again) stands by watching.
Continuity mistake: At the very beginning of the movie Capt. Doyle is being air lifted to the village when the pilot tells him, "We have to take the scenic route." His door gunner immediately tightens his seat belt because he know the pilot is going to do some aerobatics. In the next shot while the helicopter is taking ground fire he stands up and returns fire without ever loosening his seat belt.
Deliberate mistake: After our heroes jump from the plane.as they are landing their parachutes the each come to a soft standing landing. if you jump with a standard Dash 1 Bravo parachute (which none of them had) your landing is similar to jumping from 14 feet high with no chute: you hit like a rock and collapse (the Parachute Landing Fall or PLF) They were all using stunt parachutes of a type that was unavailable in 1968.
Plot hole: When Bo-Tat is purchased the Village Elder insists that Lihn go with Bo-Tat, it is CLEARLY established at this time that A) Lihn is an orphan and B) his parents were both killed in the war. For two-thirds of the movie Capt. Doyle repeatedly comments that Lihn can't be trusted because we don't know who (NVA or USA) killed his parents. There is no possible way that Spc.5 Farley wouldn't know this. However, halfway through the movie (on the river boat) he asks Lihn where his parents are and how they died. He couldn't possibly be ignorant of this, since he took part in at least two of the prior conversations.
Other mistake: During the river chase scene the NVA mortarmen drops a round into the tube and you can see it bounce right back out before the special effect that makes it look like the Mortar is firing.
