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WRAL News Documentary Examines New Challenges Facing NC Guard and Reserve Families
Airs Wednesday, April 19 at 7pm
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Being in the National Guard or Reserve no longer means just two weeks a year and one weekend a month of service. Now it can mean repeated deployments to war zones for a year or more. The latest WRAL Focal Point documentary, “Citizen Soldier,” examines the new challenges facing the families of those citizen soldiers from North Carolina in the post 9/11 era. It airs Wednesday, April 19th at 7pm.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to the largest call up of National Guardsmen and Reservists since World War II. They account for about half of US forces fighting those two wars. More than 23,000 of those citizen soldiers are from North Carolina.
Only a few other states have more Guard and Reserve members. When they’re deployed, they leave behind almost 12,000 spouses and more than 19,000 children. Deployments typically last for more than a year, often putting emotional and financial strain on those families.
Focal Point: Citizen Soldier takes you inside the life of a typical National Guard family to examine how spouses and children cope with the challenges of deployment. It also looks at the broad base of services in communities across North Carolina that has been evolving since 9/11 to support those Guard and Reserve families.
Focal Point: Citizen Soldier is hosted by WRAL news anchor Debra Morgan.
Focal Point
“Citizen Soldier” is the tenth episode in the WRAL News series called Focal Point. These in-depth news documentaries focus on a single topic, bringing depth and clarity to complicated issues facing North Carolina. From North Carolina’s economy and environment, to health care and race relations – Focal Point takes viewers inside the lives of the people most affected. Focal Point tackles the tough questions with leaders and policymakers who have the power to effect change. WRAL News anchors, including David Crabtree, Pam Saulsby, Bill Leslie, Gerald Owens and Debra Morgan, host the series. Six to eight new episodes of Focal Point will be produced each year. |
Thanks to WRAL-TV’s Debbie Strange for this capcom story.
