When Williams says the common Vietnamese surname "Nguyen" on the air, he mispronounces it. It is pronounced as "Win" in actuality. It is unknown as to whether Williams purposely mispronounces the name comedically or if he actually did not know how it was pronounced.
Robin Williams's portrayal of Adrian Cronauer has led to confusion as to the beliefs of the real Cronauer. Cronauer has said that the film is about 45 percent accurate, according to a biography on Robin Williams. Cronauer has said that the film misrepresented him to make him seem anti-war, when he was, in his own words, "anti-stupidity". In fact, today Cronauer - who is now a lawyer - remains an active Republican and was a vice-chairman of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. Furthermore, Cronauer has also said that if he'd done half the things Williams did in the film, he would've been court-martialed and sent to Fort Leavenworth.
The ribbons on SMaj Dickerson's uniform shirt are out of order. Also his ribbons indicate he was awarded the Purple Heart twice yet none of his campaign ribbons show any Battle Stars.
The studio gramophones are Garrard 401s, with S.M.E. Series II pickup arms. These would never have been used in an AFRTS Radio Station. They would have used U.S.-made gramophones. Proof that this film was made partly in England.
Adrian Cronauer: I'm sayin' I'm through, Ed. I'm tired of people tellin' me what I can't say. "This news isn't official." "That comment is too sarcastic." I can't even make fun of Richard Nixon and there's a man who's screaming out to be made fun of!
Lt. Steven Hauk: First of all, don't make fun of the weather here, and don't say the weather is the same all the time here. Because it's not. In fact, it's two degrees colder today than yesterday.
Why didn't Cronauer's superiors want him playing rock n' roll?
A
Because they probably believed, like many people in the 1960s, that rock was a subversive genre of music and that the soldiers fighting in Vietnam would become subversive or insubordinate if they listened to it. Cronauer, who had a history of angering superiors, decided to ignore that rule because he felt that, things being as tense as they were during the war, the soldiers needed some sort of release from the death, destruction, and general tension felt throughout their ranks. Cronauer's use of humor was also frowned upon as being subversive.
Q
Was Adrian Cronauer a real person?
A
Yes. More info can be found on him here, although the article is quite short. The film takes great liberties with the story, as films like this often do.