Eric Hall's family raising money for veterans causes

Eric Hall's father said what is very true. "Teaching families how to deal with the disorder is as important as making sure the veterans themselves get treatment," he said. “If I’d had any counseling, my son wouldn’t be dead right now,” he said.
How many times do I have to say that if I didn't know what I knew all these years, I would not have been able to stay married, help my husband and get through all of this? Trying to educate has been my passion for over 25 years now, but reading stories like Eric Hall's reminds me of how little I've accomplished in all these years and how little we as a whole have really done for them. Very depressing, yet at the same time inspiring to do more, reach out more, do whatever it takes to get people to understand what PTSD is and what can be done to help them heal.

I hope David Mann, the reporter on this forgives me for posting this whole article. Please click the link to make sure he gets the credit for people reading it.

Late Jeffersonville Marine’s family raising money for veterans’ causes

By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com

The family of Eric Hall — a Marine from Jeffersonville whose death earlier this year was attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder — plans to create a nonprofit organization in their son’s honor.

Kevin Hall, Eric’s father, said the money would be used to aid veterans who suffer from the same illness as his son.

A charity motorcycle ride is scheduled for Saturday morning, leaving from Faith Lutheran Church on Allison Lane in Jeffersonville and ending at Pirates Cove in Charlestown. It’s $15 per rider, $5 per passenger for those interested in participating. Registration is at 11 a.m. and the ride begins at noon.

“We really do not know what to expect,” Kevin Hall said.

At a similar event in Florida, 270 motorcyclists participated.Eric Hall was found dead in March at the age of 24. His body was located outside of a Florida town from which he had disappeared while he was said to be experiencing a war flashback. He was a Clark County native who had enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2002 after graduating from Jeffersonville High School.

In June 2005, Hall was injured when a bomb exploded while he was on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. A fellow Marine was killed in the same blast.

Hall spent 13 weeks in a hospital recovering from injuries caused the blast. He was believed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, experiencing hallucinations and flashbacks.

After his hospital discharge, Hall relocated to Deep Creek, Fla., to stay with relatives and get a fresh start. Two weeks into his stay, he disappeared during a flashback.

Kevin Hall said the money raised at Saturday’s event, and that which was raised during the Florida ride, will go toward a number of veterans’ related causes. Some of the money raised in the Florida ride will go toward furnishing an apartment at a veterans’ building there.

There are also long term plans to create post-traumatic stress disorder crisis centers in Indiana and Florida. Kevin Hall said he wants a place where veterans and their families can go to work through symptoms with trained professionals.

Teaching families how to deal with the disorder is as important as making sure the veterans themselves get treatment, he said.

“If I’d had any counseling, my son wouldn’t be dead right now,” he said.
Other long-term projects for the to-be organization include study of how post-traumatic stress disorder interacts with pain medications taken for serious injuries and research on closed head injuries.

The paperwork creating the charity organization has not yet been completed. Once that’s filed, the family hopes to keep overhead costs low, so that the money it raises goes overwhelmingly toward veterans.

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