Question: What exactly is a Code Red?
Question: What's the significance of PFC Louden Downey not being in his room when the "Code Red" was given?
Answer: It'll be considered hearsay.
Answer: The point is that he wasn't there when the lieutenant ordered the code red. The lance corporal told him LT Kendrick had ordered the code red, but since he didn't hear it himself he couldn't testify to that fact.
Answer: In addition to the previous answers, it was also particularly devastating to the defense because Kaffee and his team had believed that both Downey and Dawson were present when the order was given; this was what Dawson had led them to believe, since, in his mind, an order from Kendrick via Dawson was the same as an order directly from Kendrick. Therefore, Kaffee et al. were blindsided in open court by the revelation that Downey wasn't there.
Question: Since the link on the answer to the original question is now broken, I will ask it again; What does Jessup mean when he says he wants Santiago to make 4-6-4-6 on his next proficiency report?
Chosen answer: The Marine proficiency and conduct report is scored from 0.0 to 5.0. Above 4.5 is classified as "Excellent", which is why Jessup wanted him at 4.6.
Question: At the beginning of the movie when Lt. Kaffee and Lt. Weinberg are first being assigned to the case by "Division" they both have on 1st LT bars on their right collar. Shouldn't they be wearing Captain bars as the equivalent of Navy Lt is a Captain in all other branches? The Sr. officer in the room is a Captain in the Navy or Col. in other branches and wears the "full bird" on his collar.
Answer: No, as the Navy has two Lieutenant ranks. Lieutenant Junior Grade and Lieutenant. Lt. JG is equivalent to 1st Lieutenant in the other 3 branches. One silver bar is correct.
Answer: A navy Captain is a higher rank than a Army, Marine, or Air Force Captain. In the Navy, "Captain" is pay grade O-6 - the sixth officer rank, and the last one before the Admiral ranks begin. In the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, the rank called "Captain" is pay grade O-3, the third officer rank. The O-6 rank for the other three services would be Colonel.
Question: Why did the Judge tell Col. Jessup that he did not need to answer the question about ordering the Code Red? Essentially the same question was posed to Lt. Kendrick, and he had to answer.
Answer: Because Kaffee's "question" was preceded by a string of accusations that resulted in multiple objections from Ross, and he (Kaffee) had been told repeatedly to stop by the judge. Therefore, the judge told Jessup he didn't need to answer, because the question was out of order and Ross' objection needed to be addressed. Realistically, it wouldn't have been "You don't have to answer that", but rather "Do not answer that" until the judge ruled on everything Kaffee did wrong. However, it's a movie, so we breeze past it to Jessup's Big Speech.
Question: While questioning the doctor on the witness stand, Kaffee asks him if a heart condition could have caused the fatal lactic acidosis rather than a mysterious poison on the rag stuffed in his mouth. Under the circumstances of the Marine's death, wouldn't a complete autopsy have been performed to positively determine the cause of death? And if an autopsy were performed, wouldn't the heart condition have easily been discovered?
Answer: An autopsy can show what physically caused a death, but not necessarily what led up to it. Kaffee is trying to prove that there could be more than one reason for the marine's death.
Question: In the scene where Jessep, Markinson, and Kendrick are discussing what to do with Private Santiago, Jessep says he wants Santiago to make 4-6-4-6 on his next proficiency report. What does this score mean?
Answer: A good detailed explanation can be found here: http://www.marinewives.com/knowledge/srb-oqr.htm.
Question: I guess I fell asleep, but what is significant about the unrecorded flight that left 7 hours earlier?
Answer: It means Colonel Jessup was lying about the 6am flight being the first flight off the base. He says a few times, and Kaffe confirms it several other times, that after they made the decision to transfer him (which was itself a lie), the next possible flight was 6am the following day. That was incorrect; there was one that left at 11pm that same day. The missing flight proves that Jessup altered the Gitmo log books to remove the 11pm flight, but the Andrews log books will show that same flight landing, thus demonstrating both the lie and the cover-up.
Answer: It would show that the colonel was lying about getting Santiago out of there as soon as possible.
Question: Kaffee is explaining the plea deal where they would only spend six months in prison. Dawson explains that they won't accept the deal because that would mean they would be pleading guilty and would likely be dishonorably discharged. Even if the "conduct unbecoming" charge were dropped, as per the deal, wouldn't the judge likely order a DD anyway because their actions resulted in the death of a Marine? And wouldn't a smart lawyer, like Kaffee, know this and explain it to them?
Answer: As part of the deal offered by Ross, the "conduct unbecoming" isn't being dropped...it's the ONLY charge the government will pursue, which, if they were found guilty, would carry a two year sentence (which Kaffee estimates will translate to six months). This is why Dawson wants to go to court, to prove their innocence and avoid a DD...during the trial, of course, they are found guilty of conduct unbecoming anyway. If all the charges were dropped, or if they were found innocent of all the charges, there would be no reason for them to be dishonorably discharged, as they would not be guilty of any crime.
"I'll knock it down to involuntary manslaughter. Two years." - Ross offering the plea deal to Kaffee.
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