In the novelization of Rambo: First Blood Part II, John mentions that his father drank and beat his mother, Marie Drago, but this was not mentioned in the film canon. R. Rambo also tried to kill John with a knife at one point during a drunken rage, but Rambo defended himself by shooting his Compound Bow at his father, badly injuring and nearly killing him. Rambo would run away that night and later be drafted into the army. The result of this fight led to the two men not speaking for over forty years.