Factual error: Col. Trautman should be wearing his rank insignia on the flash (small patch) on his beret. All officers wear their rank on their flash, enlisted men wear the unit crest. (This error was corrected in Rambo II and III.)
Factual error: The military cannot be used to help execute civilian law except during emergencies. Rambo could, I guess, be considered an emergency however, once the national guard was called out, they would have had jurisdiction over the Podunk police department. When Brian Denehy told them to wait for them, and then subsequently to clean up their mess, he would not have been in charge at that point.
Factual error: In the scene in the police station, where Rambo was about to get shaved, he had a flashback of the vietcong guy slicing his chest up. The vietcong guy was noticeably speaking Cantonese instead of Vietnamese.
Factual error: The state police cars have light bars that show blue on the left and red on the right. In real life, the light bars would be red on the left and blue on the right.
Chosen answer: No he doesn't kill anyone. He didn't know if he was surrounded or not and if he did encounter one from the side they might have shot him.
Grumpy Scot