Revealing Documentary About Fort Hood: America’s Largest Military Base

As the nation continues to grapple with the causes and the effects of the recent tragedy at Fort Hood, ITVS and Austin PBS affiliate KLRU present TATTOOED UNDER FIRE, a new documentary shot on location in and around Fort Hood and Killeen, Texas. Premiering this month on public television (check local listings), the film offers an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning U.S. soldiers, professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears as they go under the needle at a tattoo parlor serving the Fort Hood community. Shot over four years TATTOOED UNDER FIRE has captured the chronological history of the stress and anguish of military duty experienced by these young men and women as they prepare and return from war. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war, and the pressures of life on America’s largest military base. “When a tragedy like this occurs at a place like Fort Hood, it is very unusual that public television can respond immediately with a national premiere of a new program so deeply connected to these difficult events,” said Sally Jo Fifer, CEO and president of ITVS. As we struggle to understand the meaning and impact of the horrific incident at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 30 injured, we hope this very timely and important film will help shed some light on the lives and challenges of our soldiers, and of life in the Fort Hood community. TATTOOED UNDER FIRE airs this month on public television (check local listings). A co-production of ITVS in association with KLRU/Austin