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FRONTLINE: The Wounded Platoon

The soldiers of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/506 Infantry Division pose at Camp Manhattan, Iraq, before heading out on patrol in 2005. David Nash (center, holding flag) was later thrown out of the army for failing a drug test. Four other members of the platoon were subsequently imprisoned for crimes committed in the United States.
Johan Spanner
The soldiers of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/506 Infantry Division pose at Camp Manhattan, Iraq, before heading out on patrol in 2005. David Nash (center, holding flag) was later thrown out of the army for failing a drug test. Four other members of the platoon were subsequently imprisoned for crimes committed in the United States.

Airs Friday, January 28, 2011 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

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 of Fort Carson have committed suicide. And 14 Fort Carson 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 Wounded Platoon" tells the dark tale of the men of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry and how the war followed them home. 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.

Watch an excerpt from the film below, and view the entire program online.

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Video Excerpt: Frontline: The Wounded Platoon