A Few Good Men (play) - Source Material and Legacy

Source Material and Legacy

The play is based on events which took place at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in July 1986, though some details were changed for dramatic purposes. Members of Rifle Security Company, Windward Side, 2nd Platoon believed that one of their number, Pfc. William Alvarado, was a malingerer and had informed about a Marine firing across the border into Cuba. In a retaliatory hazing, or "Code Red", ten Marines attacked Alvarado, blindfolded him, stuffed a rag in his mouth, beat him and shaved his head. Alvarado was seriously injured, but did not die. Of the ten Marines, seven accepted other than honorable discharges as part of a plea bargain, but three, including David Cox, refused to accept the plea bargain and went to court. Cox was defended by Don Macari; David Iglesias was also a member of the legal team. Cox was found not guilty of aggravated battery, but guilty of the misdemeanor charge of simple assault. He was sentenced to time already served in the brig, and returned to active duty.

Cox was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1989. When he saw the film version of A Few Good Men, he was upset at the liberties taken with the event, most notably that the Marines in the case were dishonorably discharged, and considered suing the filmmakers. Cox was mysteriously murdered in 1994.

David Iglesias later became a United States Attorney, and was one of eight U.S. Attorneys dismissed by the George W. Bush administration.