PORT ANGELES — The Magic of Cinema and Peninsula College’s Veterans Services Office will host a special Veterans’ Recognition Week screening of “Lioness” at 7 tonight.

The free screening will be in Peninsula College’s Maier Performance Hall, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. The film will be followed by a discussion.

“Lioness” tells the story of a group of female Army support soldiers who were part of the first program in American history to send women into direct ground combat.

The young women fought in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq war and returned home as part of this country’s first generation of female combat veterans.

“Lioness” makes public, for the first time, their hidden history.

Told through intimate accounts, journal excerpts, archival footage, as well as interviews with military commanders, the film follows five “Lioness” women who served together for a year in Iraq.

This probing documentary reveals the unexpected consequences that began by using these Army women to defuse tensions with local civilians, but resulted in their fighting alongside Marine combat units in the streets of Ramadi.

“Together the women’s candid narratives describing their experiences in Iraq and scenes from their lives back home form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war,” organizers said.

For more information contact Helen Lovejoy at hlovejoy@pencol.edu or call 360-417-6362.