Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jo is telling Danny that she sent one of the prisoners some comic books (towards the beginning of the movie)he steps inside his car and the back window is halfway down. As he drives away it is completely up and as he pulls into the next scene, it is still up, while his driver side window remains down the whole time. (00:30:00 - 00:32:00)
Continuity mistake: Tom Cruise is sitting in the court room with his hands under the table. Quickly he moves them to the top of the table as he stands up. You see the glimmer of a wedding ring (when his character is single) and then the ring is gone. (01:08:00)
Continuity mistake: During Danny's drunken yelling scene he swoops a table ALMOST clear of its papers, meaning there are still a few papers messily left on the table. However, a few shots later, those papers are mysteriously missing. (01:47:20)
Continuity mistake: After Danny tells Jessep to sit back down on the witness stand and the judge is telling Danny how to address Jessep, he pours himself a glass of water. From the shot where his back is towards us he puts the pitcher down. We then see a shot in front of him and he is putting the pitcher down again. (01:56:00 - 01:58:00)
Continuity mistake: During the trial at the end, Jessup struggles with the MPs to get to Danny Kaffee. After the struggle, his tie is all out of place. In the following close-up shots, it's re-aligned, before becoming completely askew as Jessup goes to retrieve his hat.
Continuity mistake: In one scene when Sam and Jo are leaving Danny's apartment, there is a wide shot showing Daniel opening the door, then there is a close up of Daniel and Sam, and Sam opens the door again.
Continuity mistake: Near the end when Jack Nicholson is on the witness stand you can see his collar is wet from sweat, then after he gets up it is dry, then wet again...
Continuity mistake: Part of Jack's opening statement has him walking towards the jurors with his left arm bent shot from behind the jurors. The next shot is from behind Jack, looking at the jury and his left arm is by his side.
Continuity mistake: While having lunch outside, Jack Nicholson takes a cigar up to his mouth and when he is about to give a puff, shot cuts to a general view of him and now his arm is down and no trace of the cigar is seen.
Continuity mistake: Just before Danny sits down after questioning Mr. R.C. McGuire, look at his shadows on his jacket. As Jack gets up, notice the sun shadow on his jacket, it's at an angle, but Danny didn't have one.
Continuity mistake: When Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) calls his first witness to the stand, he steps over to the podium between himself and the defense counsel, but in the wide shot showing the witness walking across the courtroom, he is back at his table. Then in the following close-up he is once again at the podium.
Continuity mistake: During Danny's examination of Lt. Kendrick on the witness stand, he leans up against his courtroom table, shot from the back, in front of the microphone which is straight on, on the table. The next shot, from the front, shows the mic to the left of him and on an angle.
Continuity mistake: When Daniel and Sam first meet Dawson and Downey, Sam asks Dawson about the shooting across the defense line into Cuba. As he asks the question, the camera view is from the side and he crosses his arms. The next shot in front of him and his arms are by his side.
Continuity mistake: When Danny asks for his bat and Jo (Demi Moore)says she put it in the closet, her elbows are on the table with her hands clasped. She then breaks them and puts the right one on the table. The next shot shows her and Danny and her elbows are on the table again with her hand clasped.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the arraignment there is a full view of the courtroom and Jo is standing on an angle looking at Danny. The next shot is from the front of them and she's standing straight square at the table.
Continuity mistake: When Jack Ross finishes his opening statement by saying, "And when we get to the end.", you hear a brief pause, but if you look at his jaw it is still moving and the words are now out of sync with his mouth.
Continuity mistake: When the two lawyers are in the bar, you see a woman in a green dress with a watch pass behind the lawyer who's not Tom Cruise. After it cuts back shortly later, you see the same woman going the same direction.
Continuity mistake: When Joanne comes to ask Danny why he has not yet seen his clients, he is just about to swing the bat, and begins to as the shot switches to her face. However, in the very next shot he's standing with the bat, waiting to swing again. The time between the two shots would not have provided adequate time for him to swing and then be waiting for another throw.
Continuity mistake: When Danny walks into the courtroom, just before the beginning of the case, if you look at Dawson's parents his father is standing up and mother sitting down. The shot changes to a view of the parents talking to Danny and both are standing up.
Continuity mistake: When Markinson gets in Lt. Caffey's car you can see his baseball glove on the back window ledge. Then in subsequent shots the glove sometimes missing.
Answer: It's something done to one trooper in a unit who is not pulling his load, to let him know his teammates are tired of him making them look bad. It can range from a beating after lights out to scrubbing a soldier who won't shower with toilet brushes and Comet. (And yes, both of those are from my own military experience, though I wasn't the victim!) It's meant to give a warning and doesn't normally harm anything but the victim's pride. They are strongly against regulations in the past year or two as several soldiers were injured by their unit getting overzealous, just like in the movie.
Grumpy Scot