Women in the US Military Assaulted and Raped by Fellow Soldiers
    NOW
    t r u t h o u t | Programming Note

    Airdate: Friday, September 7, 2007, at 8:30 p.m. on PBS.
    (Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html.)

Women in the US military assaulted and raped by fellow soldiers - a shocking investigation. This time on NOW.

    Roughly one in seven of America's active-duty military soldiers is a woman, but a NOW investigation found that sexual assault and rape are widespread. One study of National Guard and Reserve forces found that almost one in four women had been assaulted or raped. Last year alone, almost 3,000 soldiers reported sexual assault and rape by other soldiers. On Friday, September 7, in one of the only national television broadcasts of the issue, NOW features women who speak out for the first time about what happened. One woman recounts her ordeal of rape by her superior officer. Many more don't report the incidents for fear of how it will affect their careers. The shocking phenomenon has a label: military sexual trauma, or MST. NOW meets women courageously battling to overcome their MST, bringing light to an issue that's putting the Army to shame. A NOW exclusive investigation.

    NEXT WEEK: A NOW hour-long special, "Third Time Around"

    On the heels of a much-anticipated progress report in Washington, NOW travels to Iraq for an exclusive, hard look at the war through the eyes of the US men and women fighting an elusive enemy that prefers roadside bombs to pitched battles. We first met the Third Infantry's First Brigade from Georgia's Fort Stewart in January, only weeks before they headed back to Iraq for the third deployment in four years. They left behind newborn babies, young children, fianc es and wives. As the long months of the "surge" unfold, we see them fighting in the country's volatile Anbar province, while back at home their newborns become toddlers, and birthdays and anniversaries come and go.

    "I think my biggest hope for this next year is just for it to go quickly and smoothly. I don't want anything major to happen to any of my guys or the rest of the squad or platoon," Soldier Michael Murphy tells NOW. "My biggest concern is just to make it home with ten fingers and toes."

    What are the personal and political costs of constant redeployment? Is the war effort at a turning point, or a breaking point?

    "Do American soldiers think that this is a war worth fighting? Do they think this is a war we can win?" Andrew Krepenevich, a former army officer who now runs a Washington think tank asked NOW. "In a sense, you're battling not only for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, but the heart and mind of the American soldier."

    "Third Time Around," an hour-long NOW special, airs Friday, September 14. (Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html.)