While the Call of Duty: Black Ops ad featuring Kobe Bryant became somewhat controversial, there’s definitely a upside to it. See, Army combat veteran Thom Tran was featured in that ad, as a model for several of the Vietnamese characters.
It s a huge geek moment, said Tran.
Formerly enlisted in the Army, Tran initially served as a weapons and costumes specialist for Call of Duty: Black Ops, before he was asked to model the North and South Vietnamese uniforms and later to provide his own head to be scanned and used on 3D models. During the ad, Tran fires a shotgun marked with the phrase SSG Tran as he moves through the desert battlefield.
Hands down, most fun I ve ever had on a movie set, he said.
Source: Buffalo News
