[2] Following the success of the first movie, the term "Rambo" was occasionally used in media circles to describe a lone wolf who is reckless, uses violence to solve all problems, enters dangerous situations alone, and is exceptionally tough, callous, raw and aggressive.

The name Rambo was likely derived from a shortened form of Ramberget (a hill on the Hisingen island in Gothenburg, where Peter Gunnarsson was born) plus "bo" (meaning "resident of").

Morrell also felt that its pronunciation was similar to the surname of Arthur Rimbaud, the title of whose most famous work, A Season in Hell, seemed to him "an apt metaphor for the prisoner-of-war experiences that I imagined Rambo suffering".

[6][7] In the novel and first film, Rambo appears as a soldier who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has difficulty adjusting to normal life.

In the DVD commentary for First Blood, Morell remarks that the inspiration for Rambo was World War II hero Audie Murphy.

He returned to the U.S. in 1967 and began training with the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, under Colonel Samuel Trautman's tutelage.

[9] His final rank is not known but, judging from the crossed arrows (officer) insignia on the lapel of his Army Alpha Dress Green uniform, it is safe to assume that he was either a 1st Lieutenant or Captain.

At the same time, inner questions of self-identity and reflectiveness had commenced to cause Rambo to lash out at society rather than handling difficult situations in a "civilized" manner.

Being trapped inside the cold, wet, small cells gives Rambo a flashback to his days as a POW in Vietnam, and he fights off the cops as they attempt to cut his hair and shave him, beating one man and slashing another with the straight razor, killing him.

The film First Blood takes place in December 1981, and begins with Rambo, now a homeless, unemployed drifter, searching for his old friend Delmar Barry.

Teasle soon picks him up and drives him to the edge of town, refusing to let him have a meal (Rambo only wanted something to eat) while stressing his prejudged dislike of drifters and "trouble makers".

When officers attempt to dry shave him, Rambo finally snaps and fights his way out of the station, beating up Galt, Teasle, and every deputy caught in his path while retrieving his knife.

Outside, he hijacks a motorcycle from a man driving past the station and flees into the nearby mountains, while being pursued by Teasle in his police car.

Later, he finds himself at the top of a cliff face whilst trying to escape the advancing policemen and is spotted by the search helicopter with Galt in the passenger's seat.

Rambo hijacks a passing Army truck (forcing its driver to jump out onto the road in the process) and returns to town, crashing it into a gas station; he blocks the highway to anyone in pursuit by igniting the spilled fuel.

By this time, Teasle has received word of Rambo's escape from the cave and orders the town's population to remain indoors for safety.

Now surrounded by the police, Rambo rages about the horrors of war, the hateful insults from antiwar protesters when he returned home, and his inability to hold down a steady job.

Three years later in 1985, he is visited in prison by Colonel Trautman, who offers him the chance of early release if he goes to Vietnam to search for American POWs at the camp that he escaped from back in 1971.

There she witnesses Rambo being tortured by Russian Lieutenant Colonel Podovsky and his second in command Sergeant Yushin, who demands that the American contact his base and confess to war crimes.

After being electrically shocked on a bedspring by Yushin and then burned on the cheek with his own knife, Rambo pretends to agree to Podovsky's condition, but instead tells Murdock on the radio that "he is coming to get him", after which he promptly escapes with Co's help.

In a patch of tall grass there, Rambo sets a booby trap explosion that ignites a fire, burning many of the Vietnamese soldiers.

He then unsheathes his knife and threatens Murdock, ordering him to find and rescue the remaining American POWs in Vietnam, snarling almost under his breath, "You know there's more men out there.

The mission is meant to supply weapons, including FIM-92 Stinger missiles, to Afghan jihadists called the Mujahideen who are fighting the Soviets in the Soviet–Afghan War.

Despite being shown photos of civilians suffering under Soviet military intervention, Rambo refuses, fearing a betrayal by the U.S. government similar to the last mission and wanting a life without more bloodshed; Trautman chooses to go on his own.

Rambo immediately flies to Pakistan where he meets up with Mousa, a weapons supplier who agrees to take him to a village deep in the Afghan desert, close to the Soviet base where Trautman is kept.

Rebels are thrown into a mine-infested marsh and then gunned down by the Tatmadaw, while the Burmese military officer Major Pa Tee Tint, who ordered the genocides, watches the shootings grimly.

A missionary, Michael Burnett, asks Rambo to take him and his associates up the Salween River to Burma on a humanitarian mission to give aid to Karen tribespeople.

But just as the group is to be executed, Rambo seizes a truck-mounted .50-caliber machine gun and massacres the Burmese army, giving an opening for School Boy to shoot down the Tatmadaw near the others and provide them also with weapons.

Enraged, Rambo sends Maria away and rigs the ranch with traps for a confrontation, and later returns to Mexico to ask Carmen's help in finding Victor.

In the aftermath, a weakened Rambo sits on the porch of his father's house, vowing to continue fighting and to keep the memories of his loved ones alive.