Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
They retired Green Beret and I met the other day
and we had some fun and he actually did a
little bit of an analysis for me on John Rambo
in First Blood, the nineteen eighty two movie. He didn't
want to really reveal his name, and it's always sometimes
difficult to get Special Forces operators to do that sometimes.
So John Rambo, if you remember the movies of Vietnam
(00:23):
Veteran and ex Green Berets, he wages a one man
war against a small town. You remember that this individual
says from his vantage point, he'll tell me what's true
and what's false. What he found that was true was
Rambo's knack for survival, crafting traps, dodging pursuit, and using
terrain remembers many of the Green Beret skills and actually
(00:44):
their training, their training drills us to thrive in hostile zones,
he said, blending nature much like Rambo's forest tactics. His
grit pushing through pinion, hunger echoes the mental steel which
they forage in selection process. And this is one of
the things we definitely saw with a lot of these
Special Forces, of the cognitive flexibilities to adapt to changing environment.
(01:05):
He also noticed that the take on trauma with Rambo's
raw operasts about the war. The war's toll, especially towards
the end, hit home for him. Many operators grapple with
unseen wounds, and the movie nails this quite struggle, giving
voice to the veterans pain. And I agree it was
the movie at the end really showed it. I wish
they showed a little bit more of that throughout the movie. However,
(01:26):
things he thought that were pure fiction was the lone
Hero myth. Now, of course there was something to it
because he was heading back home, But he says, most
of these individuals and special forces, obviously they live by teams,
right twelve man odas for green berets and small, tight
delta squads. No operator fights solo against hordes of individuals,
(01:46):
but in this case it was unique so he had to.
But again, not the way they normally work. Rambo's body
count defies common sense, he said. In real missions prize
stealth and precision, not reckless chaos, which is another thing
he thought that wasn't real. His gear, like the sixty
machine gun, is usually a prop for flare, and carrying
that amalone alone is absurd. The film, he believes, skips
(02:10):
a lot of key things like planning, intel, and command.
No operator acts without a clear chain and purpose. Now,
of course, Rambo was in a special situation, he said,
so it could be extra could be viewed there a
little bit more accurately because of his situation. First Blood
Day Paint says Special Forces is tough and clever. He
(02:33):
thinks this benefits the Special Forces and it fire ups
young recruits who dream of valor. Also, it has a
raw look of trauma to build public care for veterans
and to see the human side of the Special Forces operator,
which is actually the original purpose of this podcast. The
myth of Rambo can boost morale, giving operators a larger
than life icon to lean into during dark times. The
(02:56):
risk is sometimes the film con said a false bar.
Civilians may think these Special Forces are operators are superhuman,
ignoring their need for teams, tools, and rest. This can
skew how leaders or recruits view their limits, pushing operators
to chase an impossible ideal. Also, the solo killer or
psychopath trope that muddies their role at risks lamorizing violence
(03:20):
and glossing over the moral and legal lines that they
have to navigate. So at the end, he gives me
a final verdict that he said that The First Blood
scores high on heart nailing the emotional cost of war,
and the bushcraft they hone. He does say that for
a sharper view, films like blackhawk Down show the mess
and teamwork of real ops. Rambo's a tail, not a guy.
(03:43):
I hope to meet with him again shortly and maybe
we'll go over the new blackhawk Down operations. Gothic Serpent
series that came out. If I can't remember where it was,
if it's on Netflix or Prime Video, but there's a
new series of eight episodes, I think it is. Get
his analysis of that in the future.
They retired Green Beret and I met the other day
and we had some fun and he actually did a
little bit of an analysis for me on John Rambo
in First Blood, the nineteen eighty two movie. He didn't
want to really reveal his name, and it's always sometimes
difficult to get Special Forces operators to do that sometimes.
So John Rambo, if you remember the movies of Vietnam
(00:23):
Veteran and ex Green Berets, he wages a one man
war against a small town. You remember that this individual
says from his vantage point, he'll tell me what's true
and what's false. What he found that was true was
Rambo's knack for survival, crafting traps, dodging pursuit, and using
terrain remembers many of the Green Beret skills and actually
(00:44):
their training, their training drills us to thrive in hostile zones,
he said, blending nature much like Rambo's forest tactics. His
grit pushing through pinion, hunger echoes the mental steel which
they forage in selection process. And this is one of
the things we definitely saw with a lot of these
Special Forces, of the cognitive flexibilities to adapt to changing environment.
(01:05):
He also noticed that the take on trauma with Rambo's
raw operasts about the war. The war's toll, especially towards
the end, hit home for him. Many operators grapple with
unseen wounds, and the movie nails this quite struggle, giving
voice to the veterans pain. And I agree it was
the movie at the end really showed it. I wish
they showed a little bit more of that throughout the movie. However,
(01:26):
things he thought that were pure fiction was the lone
Hero myth. Now, of course there was something to it
because he was heading back home, But he says, most
of these individuals and special forces, obviously they live by teams,
right twelve man odas for green berets and small, tight
delta squads. No operator fights solo against hordes of individuals,
(01:46):
but in this case it was unique so he had to.
But again, not the way they normally work. Rambo's body
count defies common sense, he said. In real missions prize
stealth and precision, not reckless chaos, which is another thing
he thought that wasn't real. His gear, like the sixty
machine gun, is usually a prop for flare, and carrying
that amalone alone is absurd. The film, he believes, skips
(02:10):
a lot of key things like planning, intel, and command.
No operator acts without a clear chain and purpose. Now,
of course, Rambo was in a special situation, he said,
so it could be extra could be viewed there a
little bit more accurately because of his situation. First Blood
Day Paint says Special Forces is tough and clever. He
(02:33):
thinks this benefits the Special Forces and it fire ups
young recruits who dream of valor. Also, it has a
raw look of trauma to build public care for veterans
and to see the human side of the Special Forces operator,
which is actually the original purpose of this podcast. The
myth of Rambo can boost morale, giving operators a larger
than life icon to lean into during dark times. The
(02:56):
risk is sometimes the film con said a false bar.
Civilians may think these Special Forces are operators are superhuman,
ignoring their need for teams, tools, and rest. This can
skew how leaders or recruits view their limits, pushing operators
to chase an impossible ideal. Also, the solo killer or
psychopath trope that muddies their role at risks lamorizing violence
(03:20):
and glossing over the moral and legal lines that they
have to navigate. So at the end, he gives me
a final verdict that he said that The First Blood
scores high on heart nailing the emotional cost of war,
and the bushcraft they hone. He does say that for
a sharper view, films like blackhawk Down show the mess
and teamwork of real ops. Rambo's a tail, not a guy.
(03:43):
I hope to meet with him again shortly and maybe
we'll go over the new blackhawk Down operations. Gothic Serpent
series that came out. If I can't remember where it was,
if it's on Netflix or Prime Video, but there's a
new series of eight episodes, I think it is. Get
his analysis of that in the future.
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