PRESS RELEASE:

In an affecting portrait, Frontline investigates what today's returning soldiers find after war. As the soldiers return home and the military's mental health treatment and screening programs are put to the test, Frontline tracks down the surviving members of one troubled platoon. KUED presents Frontline "The Wounded Platoon" Tuesday, May 18 at 9:00 p.m.

Since the Iraq War began, soldier arrests in the city of Colorado Springs have tripled. At least 36 servicemen based at the nearby army post have committed suicide. And 14 of the soldiers have been charged or convicted in at least 11 killings. Many of the most violent crimes involved men who had served in the same battalion in Iraq. Three of them came from a single platoon of infantrymen. The Third Platoon, Charlie Company, (1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry) was one of the more exceptional and cohesive fighting units operating in an often chaotic campaign at the height of the Iraq war.

"The Wounded Platoon" tells the dark tale of the Third Platoon soldiers, whom the war followed home. Some of the soldiers have adjusted well to civilian life. One is a police officer, some are off to college, but others are struggling with post traumatic stress and the effects of traumatic brain injuries. And one sits in a Colorado prison, having pled guilty to participation in the murder of another member of Charlie Company.

It is a story of heroism, grief, vicious combat, depression, drugs, alcohol and brutal murder; an investigation into the Army's mental health services; and a powerful portrait of what multiple tours and post-traumatic stress are doing to a generation of young American soldiers.

Associated files: