♪ pause it play it pause it ♪ ♪ oh we go where nobody knows ♪ ♪ with guns hidden under our petticoats ♪ ♪ we're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ no we're never gonna quit it no ♪ ♪ yeah we're dressed in black from head to toe ♪ ♪ we've got guns hidden under our petticoats ♪ m no we're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ no we're never gonna quit it no ♪ ♪ now you're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ now you're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ now you're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ if you don't start smoking it

that's what she said6♪ ♪ she said we're dressed in black head to toe ♪ ♪ with guns hidden under our petticoats ♪ ♪ and we're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ no we're never gonna quit it no ♪ ♪ hey now we're building up speed as we're approaching the hill ♪ ♪ oh my hair smells like chocolate ♪ ♪ hey now you say you're gonna quit it ♪ ♪ but you're never gonna quit it ♪ ♪ go get it go get it ♪

tonight on "nightline," they are so close. in just hours the troops will lead the front lines in afghanistan to head home for the holidays. we are with them every step of the way for emotional reunions. some of them meeting their children for the first time. >> it's the nelson mandela you have never seen before. >> you are not a stranger. you are nelson mandela. >> a new movie with big time oscar buzz exploring the man behind the myth. so what does the nobel peace prize winner himself think of it?

♪ you've got to hold on to what we've got ♪ >> the prince and the pop star, why prince william probably shouldn't quit his day job. and the exuberant performance from taylor swift that has so many people talking tonight. >> announcer: keep it right here, america, "nightline" is back in just 60 seco

good evening. on this thanksgiving eve. you will meet people who have powerful roonz easons to be tha. we'll travel from the front line of afghanistan to emotional reunions to families back home. part of an initiative, launched by abc and walt disney to celebrate the people who serve this country. it's called "home for the holidays" and here is abc's josh elliott.

>> reporter: when your job is clearing iueds from afghanistans roads, it is not a safe one. >> seeing terrain from all angles. >> you have to be thinking all the time. >> reporter: this might be the most dangerous moment of them all. in a couple days, captain lotts is due to return home to his wife and daughter he never met. >> do you think about the danger every day. >> i've been in afghanistan. anywhere you go in afghanistan. there are people trying to kill you. even on the day you are suppose to go home. >> reporter: they are counting down the hours until they too leave afghanistan. but they're not out yet either.

>> it hits home. saw the body of a captain. and the guy could have been me. >> reporter: what is it look to have this be a normal way of life. right outside the door. >> your protection. you have got to trust it. they're due to be reunited with their families in time for thanksgiving. but right now that has to be the furthest thing from their mind. it's hard. i can't let it get to me. because we can't have our mind set back home. you can't bring them on the mission with you. because it will just mess your whole day up. does she feel the fear? >> i told her i am coming home. that's what she hold on to. what i hold on to. but if it comes done to wn to i. my soldiers will come home. >> how often do you fear for your safety? >> i still assume something

happens every day. >> trying not to barack thereak husband's concentration in the final hours. i quit telling him. it kind of bums him out. he just feels like -- he is -- [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: do you ever feel that running afoul of a sense of duty to your family. >> keep that in mind. the job asks you inevitably to do something that sacrifices for your family. >> reporter: major stewart knows something, this deployment is his first since having children. >> they both understand they're both adults. we walk into it knowing. >> reporter: his wife jennifer runs a tight ship and does her

best and a since of normalcy for the two children. 6-year-old izzy and 2-year-old patrick, and making sure the ritual of story time with daddy stay intact. even if it means prerecording on their ipad. >> yesterday, two day, and tomorrow, too. >> reporter: what is it like when daddy is not here? >> not fun. >> reporter: is it emotional for you? >> perhaps the most poignant time for me is at night, specifically at bedtime. and going to bed alone, when i know that i have married someone to kind of make sure that doesn't happen is it hardest. >> reporter: jesse fuller is a new mom adjusting to life without her husband michael. she gave birth to her son brantley last december just two weeks before specialist fuller was on his way to afghanistan.

britney lotts is a new mom, and was 15 weeks pregnant with daughter finley when her husband deployed. >> knowing you would not be there for the birth. what is that like? >> you have the birth of your child once. america says i need to be over here. so -- they wouldn't call it service if it was easy. >> reporter: we decided to bring a small piece of home to the front lines. >> hi, sweetheart. we are so excited to get you home. say hi. >> the first glimpse of a daughter he has yet to meet. today is major mike stewart's 37th birthday. i brought a gift from daughter izzie. >> hi, daddy. i love you. i miss you!

>> that was awesome. thank you. >> reporter: big blue eyes. >> huge. >> reporter: want to say hi, daddy. >> i want to take your phone and eat it. just a minute. >> reporter: what is that moment going to be look when you go home again? >> it will be blissful. i will probably cry a little bit. i think seeing both of the kids, and jen together, i mean that's, that's what i am living for right now. >> pretty sure i will be tunnel vision. like everything is black around me. i am going to see her and my son. >> reporter: as the soldiers make their plans to return as part of the u.s. military draw down, they shutter their base for a final time. and start their long journey home. >> reporter: they wait to greet their soldiers as three anxious wives get ready for the reunion they have been waiting for in

nine months. >> yeah. >> i am more excited about him coming home than it was about the day we got married. >> one of the greatest moments. >> finally -- after almost a year -- counting down day after day. the excitement of the homecoming outweighed perhaps by the anticipation. of their loved ones finally returning home. for specialist fuller it is the tunnel vision he predicted. the search as if in slow motion until -- success.

for all they knew, captain lott and britney may have been the only two in that whole entire room. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: has a single senten sentence, this is my daddy, ever soun sounded so good. >> what do you think, 275 days later? >> i love seeing him with her. greatest thing ever. >> reporter: how does she feel? >> felt pretty light. >> reporter: yeah. >> new. >> reporter: yeah. >> fragile. for these military families on this thanksgiving eve, there is much to be done. food to be made. but mostly -- there are thanks

to be given that their soldiers made it back for the holidays. >> times to relax, time to spend family you haven't seen forever. >> to have him back probably makes this trip the best thing in a long time. >> reporter: finally, made it back home. for "nightline," i'm josh elliott, in fort drum, new york. >> a fantastic story. as we celebrate with our families tomorrow. we should bear in mind there are many americans who cannot celebrate with theirs. our thanks to josh elliott. coming up next here on "nightline" -- how did a guy who got nfamous for playing a drug dealer transform himself into nelson mandela thoroughly that he is being talked about as an oscar contend teer. we caught prince william in a shocking display of spontaneity. ♪ living on a prayer

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>> for my money one of the finest actors around is a british guy with an unusual name who achieved cult status playing a drug dealer from baltimore in "the wire." now, he is taking on a very different role. nelson mandela. he is already getting oscar buzz. he sat done with abc's byron pitt. >> reporter: mr. mandela, a

freeman. >> reporter: from prisoner to president, his story so refreshingly remarkable, so hard to reconcile, he is still just a man. >> action! >> reporter: the myth and the man hollywood attempts to capture in mandela, long walk to freed freedom. >> what surprised you most in playing this iconic figure? >> it was always rooted, very rooted man, though all of the stuff was going on around him. he never really lost his cool. >> most people know, nelson mandela, the elder statesman. you play nelson mandela, a player if you will. early in his life. you know, very much a -- a man with -- >> you talk about responsibility. that's one of the things i have to pay attention to. we were given the task to go ahead and make that as real as possible on the screen. you know, being a lady's man, a man that was not humble. and very am bish us ambitious m.

>> these are factors you can't even, put in the same sentence, mr. mandela the older statesman. >> this 41-year-old british actor, a role of a lifetime and early whispers of an oscar nomination. >> reporter: at times heroic, haunting. he brings a brutal physicality to the role fans are familiar with. hit shows like the bbcs "luther." action thrillers like "thor." in his breakout role as the cunning drug dealing entrepreneur in the hbo series, the wire. >> bring the body, and the body bring the police.

how does one go from "the wire" to nelson mandela. >> one word -- ambition. >> i was going to use two, bad -- but? >> i'll buy that. i'll buy that. and nelson mandela. had massive amounts of ambition. from personal am bebition to contrel ambitico country ambition to world ambition. the co-star is naomi harris who played miss moneypenny in "sky fall." she had a different challenge from a co-star, outspoken winnie mandela, influential wave to global icon. but as a passion that and often controversial add vocate for blk rights. >> you play a figure who is controversial. >> good people do very bad things and bad people do very good things. it was my job to find the

complexitien ay ein all of that. >> the people are angry. >> we are all angry. i am angry. you are angry. >> what's ben hen her reaction the movie? >> in tears at the end of the screening in south africa. she said it was too real for her. she felt like it wasn't acting up on the screen that we were really re-enacting it. we couldn't ask for any higher honor that that, really. >> guilty or not guilty? >> mandela's epic struggle to end apartheid in south africa, first gained global attention while he was incarcerated. living in a cell, 18 of the 27 years he was in prison. a place he visited preparing for the role. >> i spent a night on the island. took the opportunity. spent one night.

>> why? i needed context. i needed perspective. you and i would never know what it is to not have freedom until it is taken away. in the morning i was angry, man. the injustice. mandela spent 19 years in the one room. >> long before mandela became the grand, gray haired statesman. he was a young, powerful boxer, the demand and discipline of the sport he said helped him maintain his sanity in prison. one of the shirtless scenes in the movie, many of his adoring fans will gladly pay money for. >> nelson mandela, his routine, 100 fingertip pushups, 200 situps, run in place, 45 minutes. >> you didn't do finger tip pushups. >> we did. we screened them. he did not look like he was there. >> he has never met nelson mandela. but he won his approval. >> what was it like that he thought he was looking at himself? >> surreal.

>> and always talk of award. and also some things. but when you have mr. mandela the great himself, looking at an image of me saying is that me. that's it. i have won. i have won every possible award you can give. >> reporter: long walk to freedom is in part a history lesson. sin mcinematic proof of what is possible when a life is well-lived. >> freedom it is an idea for which i am preparred to die. for "nightline," byron pitts in new york. >> m >> coming up next on "nightline," kanye and kim's bound two video and the proof that has gone viral. what kanye is saying about it tonight. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts. it gives me anxiety just thinking about how crazy they get. [ doorbell rings ] [ daughter ] oh, wow. [ carmel ] swiffer wetjet.

you guys should try this. it's so easy. oh, my. [ gasps ] i just washed this floor. if i didn't see it i wouldn't believe it. [ carmel ] it did my heart good to see you cleaning. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. [ daughter ] oh, yeah. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself. avo: thesales event "sis back. drive" which means it's never been easier to get a new 2014 jetta. it gets an impressive 34 highway mpg and comes with no charge scheduled maintenance. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. sign. then drive. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends december 2nd. for details, visit vwdealer.com today

we have scene stealers on tonight's "feed frenzy."

normally reserved prince william stunned the crowd at kensington palace's winter white gala by jumping up on stage with taylor swift and jon bon jovi for an off-the-cuff ren degs dition ofg on a prayer. ♪ living on a prayer >> perhaps he was loosened up from having cocktails and mingling with musicians. william got up and let it rip. ♪ living on a prayer >> his dance moves may have been a little bit on the stiff side. luckily for him, t swift had enthusiasm to spare. another show stopper. the video so many of us have been watching at our desks this week. kanye west and baby mama kim kardashian in the music video for the song "bound 2."