More To Eric Hall, Missing Marine Iraq Veteran

Iraq echoes real for lost Marine
By KIM HACKETT



kim.hackett@heraldtribune.com


Family members believe that wounded Iraq war veteran Eric W. Hall, missing since Sunday, may be wandering in the woods, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and under the impression that he is still fighting in Iraq.

Believing that Hall, a former Marine, will only respond to military authority, 10 former Marines joined Hall's brother, Justin Hall, who is in the Navy, and the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office in searching for him on Friday, five days after he disappeared.

The search focused on the Harbour Heights area, a community between the Peace River and Interstate 75.


"My biggest fear is that something has happened and we're not going to pull him out with a heartbeat," said Adam Birge, 24, Hall's cousin. "He is a Marine and he is trained to survive.

"The only thing that may bring him out is hearing 'Marine, stand down,' from a voice he recognizes."

Hall disappeared from another cousin's Deep Creek home on Sunday. He had been staying there since moving from Jeffersonville, Ind., a few weeks ago.

He recently stopped taking pain medication. Relatives said he started acting strangely a few days before he disappeared, using his hand as a gun and shooting at imaginary people.

"It was almost like he had a speaker in his ear," like the ones Marines have in their helmets in Iraq, Birge said. "He would talk to the microphone on his shoulder and he started saying there were people were out there. It was short little bursts, almost a phone call discussion. Sometimes he remembered doing it and sometimes he didn't."

On Sunday, Hall was at the house with his grandmother when he had a flashback and thought someone was shooting at him, Birge said. He left the house, got on his motorcycle and has not been seen since.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office found Hall's motorcycle on Sunday at Sulstone Drive and Pasadena Terrace, and have since been searching the area. On Friday, they used K-9 units and a Sarasota County Sheriff's Office helicopter.

As word got around, a group of former Marines volunteered to help, along with Hall's brother, who is in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk, Va. Their cousin hopes a Blackhawk helicopter can be found to search the area, because the helicopter's sound is one that Hall is trained to respond to.

The former Marines found footprints in the woods consistent with Hall's gait but have not found any other sign of him. Hall has a noticeable limp, Birge said, because his left leg was nearly blown off by an explosive device in Fallujah, Iraq, three years ago.

"He has a lot of pins, plates and screws," Birge said. "They removed a stomach muscle and put it into his leg to give him a chance to walk."

Equally traumatic for Hall was seeing his best friend killed by enemy fire in the same battle, Birge said. Hall was nearby when his friend was decapitated.

According to The Evening News & The Tribune in southern Indiana, Hall underwent 18 surgeries following the blast and was hospitalized for 13 weeks.

The Marine Corps gave him a medical retirement in 2006, the newspaper reported.

While trying to recover, Hall was also struggling with the military, seeking $4,700 in vacation pay. The Department of Veterans Affairs had rated him as only partially disabled, limiting him to $700 in monthly disability payments. Full disability would give him $2,500 monthly, the article said.

"If I did not have a family, I would be homeless," he told the newspaper.

After Hall left the Marine Corps, he moved to Indiana and lived with his parents for a few months before moving into his own apartment.

He received counseling and medical care, and he began training to be an EMT. Hall found it difficult to adjust to life in his hometown with friends who had never left and had not seen the things he had seen, Birge said.

Hall moved to Port Charlotte about three weeks ago to be near Birge and other family members and "to get a fresh start," Birge said.
"He was back to who he was," Birge said. "He's a gung-ho Marine, but the quiet type. He was always trying to make you smile and happy about life, or it seemed that way."

Hall stopped taking his medication because he believed it made him feel out of control, his cousin said.

According to The New England Journal of Medicine, one in six veterans returning from Iraq suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last modified: February 09. 2008 1:57AM
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080209/NEWS/802090457/-1/newssitemap

Please click on above link so that the hit goes to Kim Hackett. Hackett provided a lot of information the other report did not and did such a great job, reading it, there was no way to cut it. There are too many important parts of the reporting that need to be told and preserved.

Hall was experiencing flashbacks. That's why he acted as if he was still in combat. To him, he was. In a flashback they are right back where they were, in that very moment with all their physical senses experiencing every aspect of it.

The other part was the deplorable disability he was receiving. No one can live on that small amount of money when they have to support themselves. This is one more way disabled veterans end up homeless, living in shelters or on the street. Hall had family standing by his side but how many others have no one? How many others go missing and no one looks for them?

Then we cannot dismiss the Marines acting as if they are on a mission searching for their "brother" as if he had been taken by enemy forces. Actually he was taken by the enemy he brought home with him in the form of PTSD. These Marines are magnificent. I'm sure they will not give up until they find him.

What are we as a nation doing to help them when they come back wounded? Do we make sure they all have enough medical and mental health care to heal? Do we make sure they all have enough income to keep a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs and their bills are paid? Think of what they do for us. Think about what they are willing to do for us. Do we return the favor if they suffer for their willingness? No. We allow them to come home after they served us and then expect them to just get on with their lives. It's almost as if they hadn't earned the right to survive in this country when they were wounded in service to this country and cannot provide themselves with a livable wage. Why is it we expect their families to support them for the rest of their lives?

When they are lucky to have a supportive family, that's wonderful but we also ignore the added burden on them. None of this is right. None of this is gratitude. It is leaving the bravest people we have to suffer for being such a rarity to the rest of us.

Eric Hall's story is being told but who would have known about it if he wasn't missing? How many other stories do we not know about? How many others have their story told when they are buried in the veterans section of the cemetery? When you think about all the reporters in this country, all the news stations and cable stations, you would think they would all find the time at some point in the day to bring the suffering of our veterans into the spotlight. How is it that we settle for stories on Britney instead? How do we settle for sports stories and elevate them to hero status acting so concerned that they maybe using steroids while we don't seem bothered by what our veterans are going through?

This nation had better start to actually support the troops when they need us because this is going to get a lot worse than we have ever seen it.