SlashGear Japan
Surely most people out there have seen at least one of the Rambo movies. Basically, you’ve got a Vietnam war vet that’s been through hell and comes home to a country that (mostly) looks down upon those that fought in Vietnam. Between the experiences in battle and the harsh treatment at home, he developed a very severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder and goes on a rampage. Why the pop culture lesson? I was reminded of the movie after reading about a missing gamer and former Marine from Florida.
I should note that Eric Hall hasn’t gone on any kind of killing rampage like Rambo (and it’s not suspected that he would) but his story made me think of the 80’s flick. He was badly injured and his best friend killed during a battle in Iraq. He’s now missing from his home and it is suspected that while playing Call of Duty (likely COD4) it triggered unpleasant memories and worsened his post-traumatic stress disorder. His friends and family have organized a search, and suspect that he may be living off the land.
This is one of those cases where unfortunately a video game did cause an unwanted reaction. You can’t really blame the game, as it was likely a risk for him to be playing something like that in the first place. Perhaps he (and others) thought that by playing the game he could somehow attain closure with the events that happened overseas. Either way, it’s an unfortunate event and we hope that he is found safe and sound.
[via GamePolitics]
2 Responses to “Missing Marine may have had PTSD triggered by playing Call of Duty”
Dennis February 11, 2008
Conversations about War and Peace:
There is an evil in my head that I can’t get rid of, inside are my private battles with hell,in this body without a soul,Shared by only a few of my comrades in arms.It all started in a room filled with people who were united in their deep concern for the welfare of returning veterans. Many people spoke. Veterans spoke. Stories were told. Hearts were poured out.
But suddenly, amidst all this good will, a rift spread across the room. A difference of opinion emerged. How to best serve a returning veteran? It was not so easy a question as we might have guessed.
The cause of the rift?
Peace!Imagine that. Peace!, as the catalyst of confrontation. But it was,A crowd of very decent, well-meaning people sat in the middle and said, We want to care for our veterans. We also want to talk about peace.Battle lines were hastily drawn. On one side, were people affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. On the other side, the veterans.
Oh no, the VA men said. You cannot speak of peace. If you ever want to build rapport with veterans, you cannot utter a word about peace! They went on to explain that veterans view peace-activists as the enemy. If they so much as hear that word—peace!—they will turn tail and run the other way. And you’ll have lost them forever. These are views of VA armchair warriors. These were the VA experts. They knew everything about the veterans. They carried that weight with them or so they thought. Then the veterans in the room responded. They said, Um ! yes but…we’re not all opposed to talking about peace. In fact, given our troubles with war, we rather enjoy the discussion.Now there is truth, of course, in the suggestion that many veterans do feel a certain hostility from the peace movement—even those veterans who have been disquieted by their own experiences in war. But my feeling, as an Iraq War veteran, is that they tend to be threatened mostly by the rhetoric that is leveled directly against the actions they took in war. Veterans are not inherently opposed to peaceful days, and most, I think would be perfectly receptive to a discussion of diplomacy vs. Military action in future situations.
And so the debate went back and forth, the moral divide opened, and the well-meaning people in the middle began to slip down into it. They looked to the left at the few passionate veterans in the room, and then they looked to the right at the men from the VA who said they’d worked with and heard the stories from thousands of veterans. Trust us,they said. We know what we’re talking about.Almost like they cough think for us.
You could see the struggle ensue before your eyes. You could feel it. In the end, the well-meaning people in the middle grabbed hold of a rope called neutrality.
And there they hung, murmuring, We do not want to upset our veterans, so we will not talk about peace or anything else of importance. We will not talk about politics,or about stopping the war in Iraq,or preventing a war in Iran,or about depleted uranium,or about the 120 War Vets Commit Suicide Each Week,no lets keep it simple lets talk about nothing.The cause for war had won!
I was disturbed by what I’d heard those VA men didn’t say.That veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care. The information is coming from documents related to a civil lawsuit filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war who claim the government is illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops.Army officials in upstate New York instructed representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs not to help disabled soldiers at Fort Drum Army base with their military disability paperwork last year.
But I was not entirely surprised. One man was a psychiatrist. He explained the psychological dimensions of PTSD. Another was a chaplain. He explained the spiritual dimensions of PTSD. But by virtue of their jobs and the hands that fed them, they could not delve too deeply into the moral questions of policy.
This is where I became most incensed.
Because war with Iran is not yet a policy, I said to my friend who was also at the meeting. There are no troops on the ground to support or not to support. There are no units in contact. There is no mission to believe in or to doubt. This is a great burden off our shoulders and clears the table for the possibility of diplomacy. This is the time to talk about it. This is the time to talk about non-violence, before the violence begins, before the troops are sent, and before we have another polarizing war which we cannot speak of critically without offending somebody.
But I was not entirely surprised. One man was a psychiatrist. He explained the psychological dimensions of PTSD. Another was a chaplain. He explained the spiritual dimensions of PTSD. But by virtue of their jobs and the hands that fed them, they could not delve too deeply into the moral questions of policy.
This is where I became most incensed.
Because war with Iran is not yet a policy, I said to my friend who was also at the meeting. There are no troops on the ground to support or not to support. There are no units in contact. There is no mission to believe in or to doubt. This is a great burden off our shoulders and clears the table for the possibility of diplomacy. This is the time to talk about it. This is the time to talk about non-violence, before the violence begins, before the troops are sent, and before we have another polarizing war which we cannot speak of critically without offending somebody.
What was so extraordinary about this particular episode was that the painstaking neutrality embraced by all these well-meaning people to spare the feelings of the veterans had effectively trumped their own instincts to speak for peace. They were silenced. They silenced themselves, not only about the present war, but about future ones as well.
My friend and I both vets agreed, we’d witnessed a surprising phenomenon. And we realized that the effort to prevent future wars might be effectively impeded through its manipulation.
If, for example, Iran was pressed upon the American people not as a war of its own, but merely as an extension of the same war on terror already taking place in Iraq, then so much the more difficult it would be to oppose for those people desperately wishing to show support for the troops.
It was a noble thing to do, and I’m pleased that it we veterans who have done it. God bless you all
Email comments to doctho@roadrunner.com
+1Ty February 12, 2008
My ass!!! Anything can trigger PTSD. Don’t blame the stupid Game (although it was a trigger). My neighbor burning trash takes me immediatly back to where I don’t want to be. It is the emotional triggers and anchors that we have embedded into our minds. The only thing I have found is discovering ways to change my state and expand my references and avoid the old references.
NeutralStop feeding the beast