Rambo opened the door and Trautman heard the sound of applause breakout.
Everybody hugged Rambo despite how filthy he was, still covered in jungle mud in some places.
Some of the base personnel who’d come to welcome him back he’d actually only ever seen but never actually met. In other circumstances, this may have made him uneasy but now, he just didn't care. Those people had spent days enduring the situation together, saddened by it, and painstakingly continued to search in hopes of a happy ending. They were the ones who would have suffered a great deal more had he not returned at all.
There were so many of them. Many more than Rambo would have ever dreamed.
Unlike ever before, a true sense of belonging filled him.
He was part of something that was grandiose and actually had a sense to it.
It not only accepted him for who he was, but actually valued it and loved him for it.
That day marked a true milestone for Rambo. He had finally understood what being part of a real family truly meant.
Once he'd made his way around the room and hugged each and every one there, Rambo caught sight of Ortega, who was standing at the very back, almost off to the side. His eyes were shiny and looked tear like.
He hadn’t gone away to have his stitches checked but had stayed instead, patiently waiting for Rambo to get out of that little room.
Yeah, he must not have gone to get his stitches checked out after all.
He suddenly realized he didn’t know anything about what had happened to Ortega.
A chest wound.
Don’t tell me they shot you in the chest, Manuel?
When their sights crossed, the room seemed to go silent.
Manuel was still sporting the same bloodstained shirt he had before.
For a few moments, the pair of them just stood looking at one another.
It didn’t take long for Rambo to open his arms up to Manuel, in a forgiving, brotherly fashion.
When they finally did hug, there was a general outcry of happiness by everyone else in the room.
Once Rambo was within earshot, Ortega turned to him and said:
It’s essential to understand the true importance of Rambo’s act of forgiveness. Had he not done so for Ortega, he would never have never been able to move on.
In other words, he couldn’t have lasted much longer with SOG.
Without forgiveness, living would have become hell, forced to live his remaining days in complete self-disgust.
It wasn’t uncommon to feel that kind of self-disgust at war because when you made mistakes somebody else paid for them.
That event showed Ortega how to be, in the future.
If he ever found himself in a situation like that, he wouldn't cut the rope again.
Not under any circumstance.
He’d rather die than not do the right thing.
In that case, he would have done so gladly.