First Blood in real life?

Defeatisnotanoption

Defeatisnotanoption

What if the events of 1982's First Blood (Based on the book by David Morrell) did in fact take place, in the late 70s or early 80s, a former Green Beret and CMOH winner was harassed by local police in a small Oregon town and snapped, leading local and state police alongside the National Guard on a manhunt for several days that ends in his arrest and millions in property damage? What effect does this have on the public's view of Vietnam veterans, and the post Vietnam treatment of the conflict? What would real politicians of the time have to say about such an event?

(News Broadcast of suspect being taken into custody by so far unidentified Army official attached to manhunt, a request from the Pentagon for a comment is currently pending... )

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Lalli

Probably much wouldn't change. Events would be somehow same as in the book/movie altough might be closer of book version. And later someone would make movie about that.
 
Histor32

Histor32

does he get to go on to rescue POW's in Vietnam ( twice ) then singlehandedly defeat the soviets in Afghanistan?
 
Histor32

Histor32

Lalli said:
It would be too ASBish. No one can't do such things actually.
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:( don't ruin my belief in the almighty Rambo! ;)

the actual pod of First Blood isn't ASB .. could even be quite believable.

you need someone with sever PTSD and enough belief that he is right.

Rambo wasn't going after the civilians .. he went after the cops who were persecuting him. as noticed he wasn't trying to kill anyone. Gult was his own stupidity and honestly a green beret in his element would take the cops out quickly if he wanted. Granted, things would escalate quite quickly. smartest thing Rambo could have done was just head for Montana and get a job at a car wash ;)

to note:
1. The cops were assholes
2. Gault was a total nimrod redneck
3. Rambo had psyche issues but he wasn't crazy, he reacted, but wasn't trying to kill anyone if he didn't have too
4. the premise is far from implausible. I am certain a real experienced combat veteran with solid experience would take out most local police posts quite easily. Thankfully they don't.
 

overoceans

Lalli said:
Probably much wouldn't change. Events would be somehow same as in the book/movie altough might be closer of book version. And later someone would make movie about that.
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I can't recall exactly what John Rambo does in the movie, but I would think that, unless this proposed real-life story involved a lot of killing and/or MAJOR destruction of property(along the lines of multiple large buildings burning to the ground), it wouldn't have much long term impact on anything. It would just be reported on for a few days, maybe make the national news, but ultimately just be shrugged off as "Crazy guy leads the cops on a chase through the woods". It might even be difficult to frame it as a "Vietnam" issue, which would otherwise be the main angle for getting it into the public consciousness.

Remember MOVE? Their little run-in with law enforcement caused way more death and destruction than John Rambo did, involved 500 cops, and played out in a major city with media covering the whole thing. But I doubt one in ten Americans outside of Philadelphia even remembers the name of the group.
 
Defeatisnotanoption

Defeatisnotanoption

overoceans said:
I can't recall exactly what John Rambo does in the movie, but I would think that, unless this proposed real-life story involved a lot of killing and/or MAJOR destruction of property(along the lines of multiple large buildings burning to the ground), it wouldn't have much long term impact on anything. It would just be reported on for a few days, maybe make the national news, but ultimately just be shrugged off as "Crazy guy leads the cops on a chase through the woods". It might even be difficult to frame it as a "Vietnam" issue, which would otherwise be the main angle for getting it into the public consciousness.

Remember MOVE? Their little run-in with law enforcement caused way more death and destruction than John Rambo did, involved 500 cops, and played out in a major city with media covering the whole thing. But I doubt one in ten Americans outside of Philadelphia even remembers the name of the group.
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I'd assume it to be almost like an early Ruby Ridge or Waco, people calling out the "Big Bad Government" for it's treatment of a war hero who just wanted some food. In the film he more or less causes millions in damages and injuries several Police officers. In the early 80s Vietnam was slowly trickling back onto the surface, with the Memorial being built in DC, i'd imagen adding a single man rampage to the debate wouldn't help.
 

Carl Schwamberger

I knew some of those guys, & still do. In real life the story usually ended with 'John' beaten to a pulp in the police station. If he was lucky he later found his way into a VA facility and got some treatment from a qualified therapist. The less lucky drifted around for a decade or more on drugs and alcohol until they worked out their mental health issues, or didn't.
 
Histor32

Histor32

Carl Schwamberger said:
I knew some of those guys, & still do. In real life the story usually ended with 'John' beaten to a pulp in the police station. If he was lucky he later found his way into a VA facility and got some treatment from a qualified therapist. The less lucky drifted around for a decade or more on drugs and alcohol until they worked out their mental health issues, or didn't.
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Vietnam and well war in general is tough on most, I had older friends who simply didn't want to discuss the war, and most were quite upset at how they were treated upon coming home.

hence the rally cry since Vietnam for soldier worship syndrome we have now where everything is support the troops, troops do no wrong, special discounts if you or someone you once knew where related to a cat who had an owner that once served latrine duty in basic training before washing out on a broken hand injury. ( don't get me wrong, I think active war vets should be treated with respect and afforded proper mental health service .. but the whole worship thing is the other end of the spectrum and clouds the right or wrong of military action in the first place.. especially Iraq 2.0 and now Syria.. or why we have been doing this for 17 years)

I would think the concept here is what if a highly trained special forces guy who isn't strung out on drugs, alone - hell his friends either KIA or wasted away, Disillusioned by a government that seems to have abandoned him and his mates, PTSD, just trying to do the right things, used to be someone in the only world he knew comes home and is treated like a dog, and when abused fights back ( right or wrong on that part ) sometimes people just only take so much. The premise to First Blood ( at least the movie ) was failure of the system and when cops are jerks, bad things can happen.
 
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Dorknought

I guess you could have a real life 'Rambo' but would need to be missing some bits to be plausible, like this guy:

Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO - he was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived two plane crashes; tunneled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. The Hospital in London would keep his pajamas ready for his next visit. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly I had enjoyed the war." Winning the Victoria Cross was so meh he left it out of his memoirs.

Upon retiring after his forth war, he was returning to England via Rangoon when he slipped on coconut matting, fell down the stairs, knocked unconscious and broke several vertebrae. Doctors used the opportunity to remove large amounts of shrapnel from his old wounds.

464px-Sir_Adrian_Carton_de_Wiart_by_Sir_William_Orpen.jpg

The painting is unfinished as he obviously had to rush off and help the Poles beat the Soviets.
 
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