Wilkie reveals to Davenport that Waters actually admired Peterson for standing up for himself and despised C.J. This statement becomes brilliant with Waters' life of pleasing the "white man". Peterson was the kind of black man Waters wanted to be, but was taught not to: Proud of being a black man. He was also the only member of the company who thought C.J. was a fool, sharing Waters' belief.
The White CO of the base, Colonel Nivens, who called in Davenport to investigate Waters' death. He had to know that only the guards on patrol were issued ammo due to short supplies, which exonerated the White officers who assaulted the drunk Waters before his death but pointed right at the Black privates under Waters' command. If a White officer investigating the murder figured it out, the Black troops would have thought it a cover-up and never believed it, causing a strain on morale and discipline. Calling in Davenport, both a Black officer and someone outside of the camp, gets him what he needs.
Remember the black soldier Waters mentioned who dressed up as a monkey, and how Waters slit his throat. As ignorant of what that man did, Waters took it too far. What sets this in Horror mode is if Waters has enough animosity towards certain blacks to coldly kill one, a fellow soldier at that, how many others "stereotypical" blacks did Waters set up or murder? He did tell C.J. that he wasn't the first Waters punished, though he and Wilkie claimed he only wanted to scare C.J., and Waters was genuinely remorseful, so who knows?
Waters mentioned having a wife and child, and given his hatred of "stereotypical" black people, who's to say he didn't marry a woman with the same ideals as him? And that they're putting their child through the same thought process?
Waters even mentioned that his daddy taught him to hate "stereotypical" black people, so it's safe to assume his terrible legacy will live on.
