Documentary THE INVISIBLE WAR Comes to DVD Today, 10/23

THE INVISIBLE WAR paints a startling picture: today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of Defense estimates there were a staggering 19,300 service members sexually assaulted in 2010 alone.

Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, the film is a moving indictment of the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling the women's struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. It also features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm of conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long-hidden history, and what can be done to bring about much-needed change.

At the core of the film are often heart-rending interviews with the rape survivors themselves -- people like Kori Cioca, who was beaten and raped by her supervisor in the U.S. Coast Guard; Ariana Klay, a Marine who served in Iraq before being raped by a senior officer and his friend, then threatened with death; and Trina McDonald who was drugged and raped repeatedly by military policemen on her remote Naval station in Adak, Alaska. And it isn't just women; according to one study's estimate, one percent of men in the military -- nearly 20,000 men -- were reportedly sexually assaulted in 2009.

Says Dick: "We were extremely surprised by the extent of the problem, how psychologically damaging it was, and the extent of the cover-up. More than half a million service men and women have been sexually assaulted since World War II. That comes as a shock to everyone we've spoken to. This is my 10th film and its subject matter is the least known to the public of any of my films, even though it most widely affects our society."

"Many of the victims have been unable to move forward because they've been disbelieved, exiled and discarded," Ziering adds. "Our hope is that the film will be a healing tool for all the survivors who have felt abandoned despite all they have sacrificed for our country."