Ex-Marine goes missing supposedly after Call of Duty triggered flashbacks

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 10th 2008 at 5:30PM }

Eric Hall, a 24-year-old Floridian and retired Marine, has now been missing for a week. His friends say that shortly after playing Call of Duty (4, we assume), Hall "just got up and said that he had to go." He was last seen departing his home on a motorcycle, which was later found on the side of a road. The local sheriff's office claims that the man was suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks to his time spent serving in Iraq, where he was injured during a patrol by an exploding bomb, which did tremendous damage to the left side of his body, and reportedly decapitated Hall's best friend in front of his eyes.

It's not exactly confirmed that Call of Duty was behind Hall's disappearance -- after all, we found the story on Fox News, who has a less than objective view of video gaming as a whole. Regardless, we wish Hall's family the best of luck in locating him, though, as Hall's father pointed out, it's tough to find a Marine that doesn't want to be found.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Tags: callofduty, callofduty4, cod, cod4, fox, fps, iraq, marine, war

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

blehh @ Feb 10th 2008 5:34PM

warfare is serious business.

Dan @ Feb 10th 2008 6:11PM

FOX NEWSFLASH:

Video games cause PTSD!! you heard it here first. SCOOP!!

ThornedVenom @ Feb 10th 2008 6:57PM

Even they knew that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

James @ Feb 10th 2008 5:35PM

Boom...

NukeAssault @ Feb 10th 2008 5:36PM

Wow, if something that traumatic happened to me i don't think i could touch a war game.

StarFoxA @ Feb 10th 2008 5:40PM

I saw this on Fox and found it complete BS.

Lone Starr @ Feb 10th 2008 6:03PM

Please, share with us the information that led you to this conclusion.

ThornedVenom @ Feb 10th 2008 6:59PM

He saw it on Fox.

fischju @ Feb 10th 2008 10:12PM

It could easily happen. I haven't served, but I have played CoD4. In the desert mission before the nuke scene, I accidentally shot a US soldier in the head, and it made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't touch the game for a week.

ComradeTrotskii @ Feb 10th 2008 10:18PM

Fischju: Is it only virtual representations of US soldiers that you have a problem shooting? You had no problem killing all those other guys throughout the game to that point?

Damn, your Government is good.

fischju @ Feb 10th 2008 10:34PM

Hey, they shot at me first! And a couple of the guys I got close to did shake me up, but then another guy came around the corner shooting at me

StarFoxA @ Feb 10th 2008 10:36PM

Lone Starr, mainly the reason I saw it on Fox. I don't trust them after the "Se"Xbox thing.

Hell, I didn't trust them before that.

DigTheDoug @ Feb 10th 2008 5:40PM

The best part is when Fox blames the video game for triggering the flashbacks instead of the war that caused them in the first place.

Jerk Face @ Feb 10th 2008 5:50PM

While the thought behind your point are certainly valid, I think you're off base a little bit if you're going to chalk this all up to media sensationalism. We've all seen COD4 - it's pretty freaking loud and scary and at least as realistic LOOKING as a military game can be. For a guy who is already suffering from flashbacks I don't think it's so far off for something like that to cause a bit of a break down.

Now I'll certainly admit it's kind of like a recovering alcoholic going to a bar. But if you picture the situation: Dude comes home from the war and he's badly hurt and just kind of losing it. His buddies all want him to play COD4 with them.. so he does. It's just a game right? Well, to his broken mind it isn't. So he takes off. It's not off base at all. And the article mentions the game ONCE, so I wouldn't get all defensive about video games yet. This isn't like the Mass Effect debaucle.

And I'm not saying it's the fault of the game. It just is what it is. Bad things happen sometimes. I hope the guy is okay and his family finds him.

gst @ Feb 10th 2008 6:13PM

That is because graphical depictions of violence are SO much more destructive than real-life violence... or news media depictions thereof.

Jouten @ Feb 10th 2008 7:55PM

Very good points Digthedug and Jerk Face, very good. I couldn't have said it better myself. See? There can be intelligent conversation in VG Fanboy blogs! Don't tell anyone though, we have a reputation we unvoluntarily have to uphold! =D

Zeus.:God @ Feb 10th 2008 8:40PM

I love how "gst" misses the point completely.

Steve @ Feb 11th 2008 10:17AM

Exactly. The Repuglican't spin machine at work. The war couldn't possibly have done this to the poor man. God Damn video games.

FidliousWong @ Feb 10th 2008 5:48PM

My stepfather has severely bad memories of vietnam. So he avoids media about that war and music from that era. It's unwise to dwell in what causes you pain.

Phi Nguyen @ Feb 10th 2008 5:58PM

Yeah, my dad fought in the Vietnam war too (South Vietnam, ya jerks! LOL) and he hates watching me play violent videogames. The last two games I played were Assassin's Creed and No More Heroes and those aren't exactly the cleanest games if you know what I'm saying. I think it's because of the apparent lack of caring when it comes to the value of life in these games. I think my father thinks that this view could translate into my psyche, but I'm 23 now (and I've been playing games ever since I can remember) so if I was going to kill anybody, it probably would've happened by now, don'tcha think?

Phi Nguyen @ Feb 10th 2008 6:04PM

Hey Sheppy, can your stepdad watch Forrest Gump? I ask because I know some older men that couldn't watch the war scenes in that movie because it made them flashback. It's a shame because that movie was so epic. Fun fact: a lot of the war scenes were filmed around the Savannah, Ga area (where I'm from). Also, my mom tried out for the part of Lieutenant Dan's wife but did not get the part. I guess her "Engrish" wasn't good enough.

Grimmus @ Feb 10th 2008 6:50PM

Or you could confront and overcome your fears and pains rather than sweeping them under the rug and avoiding them.

ThornedVenom @ Feb 10th 2008 7:05PM

My grandfather served as a colonel for Southern Vietnam. When the US surrendered and Saigon fell, he was held as a POW for many years (until the late 80s-early 90s if I remember well).

He has a lot of pride for maintaining his integrity, he has extremely fixed values and he rarely talks about the horrors of war. He follows CNN though, but I've never heard him comment about what news sensation horror had happened.

I guess that he's the kind of guy who distances himself with nowadays with a bitter eye, but who believes that it's better to watch and be aware than to isolate one's self to forget.

Zon @ Feb 10th 2008 7:51PM

@Grimmus, I think its a bit ignorant of you to say that. Once you go to war you'll see life differently. You can't just "overcome" PTSD

Secura @ Feb 10th 2008 5:50PM

Poor guy...

mundox @ Feb 10th 2008 5:56PM

"It's not exactly confirmed that Call of Duty was behind Hall's disappearance..."

Well of course, 'cause the real cause of the problem is the war on Irak where he was and got injured (psychologically and physically), not some game.

But who cares, let's just blame a video game.

John S @ Feb 10th 2008 6:11PM

please don't make comments on the war, or any war for that matter if you can't take the time out of your day to inform yourself on the war and where its taking place. IRAK, is on no map that I can find. Its a disgrace that we are fighting a war over there and I gurantee that 95% of ppl in the US couldn't point it out on a map.

The war is real, ppl are dying on both sides, and you come up with all these opinions about it all, but don't know anything about it.

Learn something about the rest of the world and a little geography while you are at, then please come back and comment.

Autopsy15 @ Feb 10th 2008 6:13PM

Iraq*

xtremuuuu @ Feb 10th 2008 6:58PM

Iraq = Irak in Spanish. :)

Bucfann @ Feb 10th 2008 7:23PM

I agree with you John. And look how typical, youve apparently been voted negatively for comments. Those who did are just ignorant, because what you said holds true. Most of you are here because of video games. And many of you have no idea what you are talking about politically or when you talk about the war and so on. Sure some of you do, but it's plain to see most of you dont and just echo what you read or hear from others who dont know much either.
I served in the military for 10 years, just go out early last year.

ill trooper @ Feb 10th 2008 11:40PM

John S and Bucfann: Kindly follow your own advice. Many of us follow politics and this lame war very closely; don't ever assume someone is ignorant or can't point out Iraq/Irak on a map because someone's opinion of it is different from yours.

AzaMcWazza @ Feb 10th 2008 5:56PM

I'm the last person to fall victim to Fox News style gaming hate, but after playing CoD (And still playing the online) it's one intense game, and really in some way definitely would desensitise people to the real horror of a war.

I applaud the CoD maker though, for trying to inject some serious content into the narrative of the single player game. It was quite emotional for a video game.

Nikonov @ Feb 10th 2008 5:57PM

... Why was he playing a war game after all that?

Batzarro @ Feb 10th 2008 5:58PM

If his friends truly invited him to play COD4, they are either insensitive, dumb or both. That's like inviting a rape victim to watch hentai: You just don't do it. Hope he is found alive.

Phi Nguyen @ Feb 10th 2008 6:07PM

Hey! Not all Hentai is tentacle/evil-doctor rape... just the good stuff. LOL. j/k.

Grimmus @ Feb 10th 2008 6:51PM

Unless the rape victim was attacked by a bunch of tentacles, your anecdote is pretty crappy.

Tiptup300 @ Feb 10th 2008 7:09PM

"Hey remember that time when your sister died in a roller coaster accident at wicky world"
"sniffle, yeah *sighs*"
"We're going to wiky world, wanna come?"

Mr.ESC @ Feb 10th 2008 7:53PM

That metaphor doesn’t works either.

"Hey sue I'm sorry your parents died in that plane crash but don't worry I brought you some movies to cheer you up"

"Here, Texas Chainsaw massacre, Alive!, Turbulence 1 2 and 3..."

colin @ Feb 10th 2008 6:12PM

that's not good, i hope he is all right and that he doesn't hurt anyone.

Autopsy15 @ Feb 10th 2008 6:18PM

What a buncha douchebag friends he must have. Who lets a guy that was just traumatized by being hit by a roadside bomb and watched his best friend get his head blown off, play a game that has, disturbingly sometimes, realistic depictions of war?
Hope he's ok.

Nigeria @ Feb 10th 2008 6:38PM

Does the Fox article say he was playing with friends?

It may have been his own decision to play this game. This isn't a story to appropriate blame to anyone or anything, it's just sad on many, many levels.

Mr.ESC @ Feb 10th 2008 6:21PM

"He was last seen departing his home on a motorcycle, which was later found on the side of a road".

"The local sheriff's office claims that the man was suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks"

That sounds like the plot for the next silent hill game.

mezzanine @ Feb 11th 2008 1:28AM

THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINKING

hvnlysoldr @ Feb 12th 2008 12:40PM

Because it already is.

Batzarro @ Feb 10th 2008 6:26PM

Phi Nguyen: I know that. My point is, it is negligent to bring a trauma victim images of the very thing that traumatized they are traumatized with, wether it's sex or violence or whathaveyou.

Phi Nguyen @ Feb 10th 2008 11:07PM

Yeah man, I was just pulling your chain. I would never do anything that ignorant. It's pretty crazy to think about but about half of my friends were sexually molested as kids and I usually take situations like this very seriously. Sorry if you took my comment the wrong way.

nick @ Feb 10th 2008 6:33PM

I am so glad jerk face was there and he KNOWS that the guys friends made him play the game. He is an ex marine that was in the sh!t and he can't tell his friends no. YOU A BRILLIANT JERK FACE. Excellent conclusion.

Your a retard.

One Question: In the past who has killed, harmed, and destroyed more lives? Video games, Government/war, Religion/war/genocide.

Jerk Face @ Feb 10th 2008 6:43PM

Listen, nick, I was just setting up a hypothetical fucking scenario about a guy coming home from the war and his friends trying to get him back into normalcy by playing games with them. I didn't say they forced him at knife point. Lay off the roids, pal.