"Why do we have a big army instead of a lone Warrior?"
When I was young, I loved watching war/gun fight VCR movies. I was watching those movies mostly alone at home regardless of the warnings, thus I did not care much about the age rating.
Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, and Chuck Norris' Delta Force & Missing in Action were my favorites that I watched them more than once.
Watching other movies was hard unless the heroic storylines were involved like "The Phantom Soldiers, Commander, Commando etc.".
So it happened that our neighbour (the wife/mother) is a soldier, and left for a peace-keeping mission to Somalia. So her son came and shared the the news with me. In my mind, I thought for a moment, "Was his mother someone like Cynthia Rothrock?" Fortunately, he opened further telling me that more soldiers had left the country 🇲🇼 for that mission. 
I kept on thinking, were they like the Vietcong I had previously watched? I left him and ran to my older cousin who later on tried to give me a picture of what real soldiers are like.
I proceeded to ask him why Malawi did not have someone like Rambo, Commander or Murdock?
He just laughed, and told me that it was all fake. I did not take it to heart, that I waited for my father to knock off from work later that evening.
When my father returned, he found me home settled as usual. On this day I never waited for him to take his cup of tea, I asked him if those heroic guys were real or fake?
He looked at me with surprise, and asked, "Mumaonera kuti zimenezo?" Literally meaning where was I watching those guys. Being scared, I lied that I watched at friend's that day. Fast forward, I was grounded and I was forbidden to watch TV alone. Oh, I lost the rights because of my pride.
Fast forward, growing I came to understand that those movies operate as PR/Orientalism weapons. Realising that no individual can win a war without a team, I have to pay homage to the soldiers who execute their job well, when instructed.
I had the chance to watch 'We were soldiers', a movie which it's events are based on a true story. I understood how essential a team is, and how men in camouflage suffer out there protecting us.
These are the real heroes that deserve our praise and respect, not my favourite fiction characters.
......
Photo credits: Rambo and Missing in Action Facebook pages.
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