SEPTEMBER – MILITARY CHANNEL PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

SEPTEMBER 2005

BACK TO SCHOOL

Beginning Sunday, September 4, and airing through Labor Day, Monday, September 5 It’s Back to School time military style!  Tune in to see how America‘s fighting men and women learn the ropes, hone their skills and get put to the test in some of the toughest training programs around the world…..

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 |     Network    | Tank School                                       |

 |    Premiere    | Young Marine Corps recruits learn the ins and outs|

 |     Sunday,    | of the greatest battlefield tank in the worldthe |

 |   September 4  | M1-A1 Abrams.  Viewers watch as a brand new group |

 |     6-7 PM     | of Marines embark on the nine-week training course|

 |     Re-airs    | and learn to master this 68-ton, 1,500-horsepower |

 | Monday, Sept. 5| monster.  From being fresh out of boot camp,      |

 |    10-11 AM    | through their first time at the tank’s controls,  |

 |                | through learning to fire a .50-caliber machine gun|

 |                | and 120-mm main gun, this program captures their  |

 |                | overwhelming experiences as they prepare for their|

 |                | final exercises and war games that mark the       |

 |                | successful completion of school.                  |

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 |     Network    | Sniper School                                     |

 |    Premiere    | At the U.S. Army Sniper School in Fort Benning,   |

 |     Sunday,    | Ga., soldiers fresh from basic training are       |

 |   September 4  | trained in marksmanship, intelligence gathering,  |

 |     7-8 PM     | camouflage and survival in a grueling five-week   |

 |     Re-airs    | program.  These soldiers are the top guns from    |

 | Monday, Sept. 5| their units.  They’ve been selected to enter one  |

 |   11 AM-12 PM  | of the Army’s most difficult training schools.    |

 |                | Sniper school is part boot camp, part survival    |

 |                | school and part psychological stress center.  If  |

 |                | they graduate, they will become part of an elite  |

 |                | group of soldiers.                                |

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 |Network Premiere|Inside America’s Military Academies:  Surviving the|

 |    Sunday,     |First Year                                         |

 |  September 4   |With an academic load of five or six courses, two  |

 |     8-9 PM     |to four hours of physical training a day, as well  |

 |    Re-airs     |as inspections, marches and memorization drills,   |

 |Monday, Sept. 5 |the first year in one of America‘s four military   |

 |    12-1 PM     |academies is the most grueling experience of any   |

 |                |freshman’s life.  During the first six weeks, new  |

 |                |cadets must take part in a 16-hour endurance test  |

 |                |known as warrior forge, the uphill, mile-long    |

 |                |jeep push and the beast a 15-mile march they |

 |                |must complete wearing 40 pounds of gear.           |

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 |     Network    | Inside America’s Military Academies:  No Time Off |

 |    Premiere    | for Summer                                        |

 |     Sunday,    | Most college students take a vacation during the  |

 |   September 4  | summer, but there’s no such rest for cadets and   |

 |     9-10 PM    | midshipmen at America‘s military academies.  Those|

 |     Re-airs    | at West Point slide down 70-foot towers, roll     |

 | Monday, Sept. 5| 400-pound barrels up mile-long hills and learn how|

 |     1-2 PM     | to drive a 60-ton tank.  Future submariners go to |

 |                | Navy Submarine School to pilot high-tech          |

 |                | simulators and learn how to cope with undersea    |

 |                | fires and floods.  Aspiring marines practice      |

 |                | hand-to-hand combat and other lethal skills in    |

 |                | Quantico, Va., while their counterparts at the Air|

 |                | Force Academy fly gliders in the Colorado         |

 |                | mountains.  And for five weeks, Coast Guard       |

 |                | midshipmen sail a huge square-rigger down the     |

 |                | eastern seaboard to Puerto Rico.                  |

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 |     Network    | Inside America’s Military Academies:  The Making  |

 |    Premiere    | of an Officer                                     |

 |     Sunday,    | The first year at an American military academy is |

 |   September 4  | about learning to follow; the last three, learning|

 |    10-11 PM    | to lead.  This hour gives viewers an inside look  |

 |     Re-airs    | at the physical, academic and moral training that |

 | Monday, Sept. 5| turns plebes and swabs into officers.  At the |

 |     2-3 PM     | Naval Academy, midshipmen must complete a         |

 |                | 40-minute swim without stopping or touching the   |

 |                | sides of the pool.  West Point cadets must run the|

 |                | most difficult indoor obstacle course in America. |

 |                | At the Air Force Academy, skydiving is an         |

 |                | extracurricular activity, and we talk with one    |

 |                | cadet who has jumped more than 550 times.  But the|

 |                | payoff for four grueling years is the sense of    |

 |                | pride and achievement at graduation, which viewers|

 |                | witness when they watch the ceremony at West Point|

 |                | and meet the newest class of officers.            |

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 |     Encore     |Making Marines:  Parris Island, Phase One          |

 |  Presentation  |Viewers follow young recruits as they prepare for  |

 |    Sunday,     |Boot Camp at Parris Island.  From all over the     |

 |  September 4   |eastern United States, recruits roll off the bus in|

 |  11 PM-12 AM   |the middle of the night and begin their            |

 |    Re-airs     |transformation into U.S. Marines.                  |

 |Monday, Sept. 5 |                                                   |

 |     3-4 PM     |                                                   |

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 |     Encore     |Making Marines:  Parris Island, Phase Two          |

 |  Presentation  |The recruits at Parris Island learn to cope with   |

 |    Monday,     |the punishing regimen of physical training and     |

 |  September 5   |mental conditioning.  In the confidence course,    |

 |    12-1 AM     |they are pushed beyond their limits.  Nerves become|

 |    Re-airs     |frayed and attrition takes its toll.               |

 |Monday, Sept. 5 |                                                   |

 |     4-5 PM     |                                                   |

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 |     Encore     | Making Marines:  Parris Island, Phase Three       |

 |  Presentation  | Training becomes more demanding as the recruits   |

 |     Monday,    | enter the 54-hour Crucible.  Upon completion of   |

 |   September 5  | this final test, they march to the mess hall for  |

 |     1-2 AM     | the Warrior’s breakfast.                          |

 |     Re-airs    |                                                   |

 | Monday, Sept. 5|                                                   |

 |     5-6 PM     |                                                   |

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SPECIALS

SUBMARINES SHARKS OF STEEL: THE HIDDEN THREAT Network Premiere:  Friday, September 2, 8-9 PM Under the gleaming surface of the world’s oceans lurks a power of unimaginable destructionand its location is unknown.  Nuclear submarines are poised to unleash their deadly force.  This program profiles the boomer, or ballistic missile submarine, and compares it with the former Soviet Union‘s much larger Typhoon class sub.  Viewers experience life aboard the submarine, witness missile launch maneuvers and a Trident missile test, explore modern sonar detection methods and learn about the history of submarines and the overriding philosophy surrounding the nuclear submarine forces of the superpowers.

21st CENTURY WARFIGHTER

World Premiere: Thursday, September 8, 8-9 PM As the 21st century unfolds, the U.S. faces new enemies and new types of warfare.  To meet this challenge, the Armed Forces are working on multiple fronts to develop new training and equipment.  21st CENTURY WARFIGHTER unveils the future of American soldiers: how they will be equipped and how they will be taught to fight in the new millennium.

SUBMARINES SHARKS OF STEEL: THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED Network Premiere:  Friday, September 23, 8-9 PM The seas of the world truly belong to the silent predatorthe submarine.

Submarines first surfaced during the Civil War and quickly became the most feared and respected naval vessels in existence.  During both world wars, the submarine crippled whole navies and devastated merchant trade.  Through the use of historical film footage and interviews with those who were there, including well-known German U-boat commanders, their British counterparts and American war veterans, this program explores the history of the submarine and its important role in wartime strategy.

BATTLEFIELD DIARIES: KIOWA DOWN (TV14-V) Network Premiere:  Monday, September 26, 10-11 PM A routine mission in Iraq on September 4, 2004, turned into a raging firefight for Stryker troops with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Scout Platoon and B Company of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, as they fought off heavy fire in a rescue mission launched after Iraqi insurgents shot down a Kiowa helicopter and swarmed to capture the two pilots on board.  The soldiers of 5-20 said this mission was the most intense fight they had encountered since being deployed.  There were 112 enemy casualties, but the number of Americans KIA: zero.

ONGOING SERIES

BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM

The Vietnam War was the most photographed war in history, but much of this footage and photography has rarely been seen.  BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM draws upon this imagery to present a distinctive documentary of the Vietnam War from both the ground and air.  Featured footage includes film shot by Vietnamese cameraman from both sides of the battle that has only recently become available, as well as French and Chinese photography.  [TV-PG(V)]

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 |     Network    | The Undeclared War                                |

 |    Premiere    | This episode follows the escalating U.S.          |

 | Monday, Sept. 5| involvement in Vietnamfrom 1950s advisors, to the|

 |     9-10 PM    | battles with the growing strength of the Viet     |

 |                | Cong, on to the USS Maddox/Tonkin Gulf incident   |

 |                | and Operation Starlight, the first full-scale U.S.|

 |                | battle of the war and everything that led to      |

 |                | President Johnson waging unrestricted war in      |

 |                | Vietnam.                                          |

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 |     Network    | War on the DMZ                                    |

 |    Premiere    | Operation Hastings.  Operation Prairie.  Over and |

 |  Monday, Sept. | over, the North Vietnamese moved troops and       |

 |       12       | supplies into the neutral buffer of the 17th      |

 |     9-10 PM    | Parallel Demilitarized Zone, while South          |

 |                | Vietnamese and U.S. forces tried repeatedly to    |

 |                | push them back.  A military seesaw brought intense|

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