this is "nightline." >> tonight, the long road home. on the set of a new miniseries. >> rolling! >> iraq war veterans reliving the ferocious firefight that changed their lives. >> fire came from the right-hand side of the street and the left and the front and the rear. >> opening up about the war within themselves. >> the guilt is that i didn't get shot and he did. >> and the emotional battles they say they finally won. >> a year ago i was impatienpat for depression, suicide. a year later, everything's different ♪ i was made for you you were made for me. >> rising country star cane brown making his cma awards debut tonight. >> i think i'm the first one to break through in country music

through social media. >> now topping major country charts, he's breaking records and barriers. >> being in country music, being biracial, is kind of hard. everybody looks at me, thinks i'm a rapper, i can't be a country artist. it drives me crazy. >> first the "nightline 5." ♪ ♪ i love you, droolius caesar. sometimes you stink. febreze car vent clip cleans away odors up to 30 days. because the things you love can stink. i'm never going to be able to sleep with this cold. i'll take a sick day tomorrow. >> on our daughter's birthday? >> moms don't take sick days, moms take nyquil severe. the best sleep with a cold medicine. >> number one in just 60 seconds.

good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight we go inside a deadly battle in the iraq war with the soldiers who survived it. the story of that harrowing day is chronicled in the new miniseries "the long road home" based on the book by martha raddatz who visited the set along with some of the brave men who fought that day. >> reporter: a pile of bloody boots. this is what remained after a battle that would take eight american soldiers' lives and leave dozens wounded. >> almost undescribable. >> probably the loudest thing i've ever heard. >> fair came from the right-hand side of the street and the left and the front and the rear -- >> reporter: april 4th, 2004. one of the first ferocious battles with insurgents during what was supposed to be a reconstruction mission for the 1st cavalry division. 18 soldiers and their interpreter pinned down in an

alley in the slum of sadr city in baghdad. the rest of the battalion racing to rescue them. unprotected. exposed. facing masses of armed militiamen. >> we see the charlie company truck just like the one we were riding in, rode down the road to us, four flat tires. engine on fire. wounded. >> it was shocking at first to see these battle wounds. the best word i can come up with is it was just like a tidal wave. >> reporter: in the wake of that tidal wave, those dozens wounded, eight dead. at almost exactly the same time the shooting began -- >> reporter: we've been reporting on this story since 2004. only a few images of the battle existed then. but the soldiers' memories have echoed for us through the years. >> when you go to a veterans

ceremony and you see the old veterans get together and hug and cry, you never really understood it. i understand it now. >> reporter: and we understand that feeling today. 13 years later. this is just extraordinary. to see the flags and to see -- >> reporter: when we returned to sadr city in a way -- >> these should be basically a match to the real buildings right here. >> reporter: here at ft. hood, painstaking reconstructions of sadr city. a hollywood-caliber set for a "national geographic" miniseries. >> we're rolling! >> reporter: based on my book about the battle "the long road home." >> come on, baby. >> reporter: there is heart-pumping action. but also the heartbreak of the families of the fallen.

who were invited to the set to see the recreation. >> this is so hard. tell me what the hardest part is today. >> just remembering and wishing he was here, not that he was in a movie, right? >> yeah. >> just feeling my emotions again. >> i know. >> i love you. >> i love you. >> reporter: actress kate bosworth is playing gina, wife of troy, one of the wounded in the battle. >> your legs just kind of go weak. it's just an unbelievable feeling of fear. >> it's always to keep in mind that we are telling the stories of heroes. that includes the troops but it

includes their families. >> reporter: it's a responsibility for the actors portraying these real-life heros to get it right. jeremy sisto, playing salve sergeant robert miltonberger -- >> how are you? nice to meet you. >> reporter: asks his real-life counterpart to walk him through that horrible day. >> is there moments that you have like, maybefy turned to the left as opposed to the right? >> no, no. the guilt is that i didn't get shot, and they did. that's it. >> reporter: he's not alone. >> so i was scared to start on this project. it's a lot easier now. >> reporter: aaron fowler, he was shot multiple times trying to rescue his fellow soldiers. now he's a technical adviser for the miniseries. >> let me close a chapter in my life that i didn't get to before. >> maybe it opens one too. >> it does, and that's another thing too. i honestly -- a year ago, i was inpatient for depression suicide. i did not think my future held

any more opportunities compared to war and combat and everything like that. here i am a year later and everything's different. >> reporter: the gravity of the role weighs heavy on michael kelley, who is playing then-lieutenant colonel gary valeski. >> please bring my baby home. >> i promise you, every man is coming back safely. >> how can you promise that? >> because i believe that too and because it's my responsibility. >> we wanted to -- the men who did this in real life, the justice that they deserve. so i think that part is really special. that's what i think the heart and the care comes from. >> reporter: the man michael kelley is portraying now a three-star general. gary veleski perfectly captured that heart and care all those years ago. >> uncommon valor was common that day. because there were soldiers doing things that we talk about, but you don't teach stuff like that. you can get them to that point, but where they go in combat where when those rounds are being directed at them, how they

react, you know, no one knows until it happens. and they all just performed magnificently. so, you know, i'm honored to be able to serve these soldiers like that. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm martha rad dates in ft. hood, texas. >> "the long road home" can be seen on tuesday nights on national geographic. last night was the annual stand up for heroes benefit here in new york city, hosted by bob woodruff. abc's david muir went backstage to meet a veteran you won't forget. >> reporter: down the stairs, backstage at madison square garden in new york, we were out to find the heroes. it's an honor to meet you. >> thank you. >> reporter: retired corporal chianti story, a marine. >> i was injured in 2010 -- >> reporter: he was on patrol with his marine unit. there was an ied in a compound in hell land province. 12 of them stepped over it. but when he did, everything went into a gray haze. it severed his right leg below the knee.

>> tried to figure out what just happened. and just really tried to calm myself down. and i was going down a dark hole that i didn't want to go down. >> reporter: determined to change that, he quit the pain meds then the rehab, the running, the reaching for the top. climbing to the summit of antarctica's mt. vincent, then climbing kill la man jairo. >> a real underachiever. >> reporter: an audience waiting. >> we have our own challenges when we return home. our own mountains to climb. >> reporter: bob woodruff and his life lee celebrating him. 11 years now standing up for heroes. after bob's accident, reporting a roadside bomb 2006. now years of helping others. >> it's been the most satisfying thing i've ever done in my life. >> reporter: his dedication and those wounded warriors pulling in jon stewart every year. >> you get to see people progress through their recovery and you follow through their ups

and downs and it becomes personal. >> yeah. family. >> that's right. >> reporter: invest noah join the fight. >> i think people like bob make you realize that you can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you react. >> reporter: john oliver, whose own wife an american army medic, veteran of the iraq war. >> don't allow their humility to allow the rest of us -- >> they don't whine. they're unlike me. i'm a natural whiner. >> reporter: back on that stage, a beaming retired corporate and a message. >> we are not alone. >> reporter: determined to help the warriors coming home behind him. when we come back -- ♪ ♪ i used to love you so much >> with hits like "used to love you" racking up tens of millions of views on youtube, how cma newcomer kane brown is breaking the country music mold. ♪ now you're all gone you've

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in just a few years, kane brown went from singing in youtube videos from his backyard to opening for country music stars like jason aldean. when you hear his voice you'll understand why. he's got the soul and sound of the most traditional country ledge jebs but he says he's been told he doesn't quite look like one. it's a perception he tells us he's been battling his entire life. here's abc's adrienne bankert. ♪ >> reporter: it's one of the biggest nights in country music.

>> everybody welcome kane brown! >> reporter: and for newcomer kane brown, arguably the biggest night of his career. ♪ there's a ufc fight performing live alongside one of his idols host and superstar brad paisley. ♪ fireworks tonight >> reporter: the baby-faced 24-year-old with a big voice has taken the industry by storm. ♪ what if i was made for you and you were made for me ♪ >> reporter: last month. >> jimmy: what ifs" helped him become the first artist history to simultaneously top all five major country charts. for a lot of people, especially in the country music industry, you came out of nowhere. you can't take the traditional route to nashville. >> i think i'm the first one to break through on -- in country music through social media. >> reporter: three years ago he was a kid from chattanooga, tennessee, hosting covers on social media. ♪ i don't dance here i am >> that's what started

everything for me is the "i don't dance" cover. i woke up one morning, my phone went crazy, i thought i got hacked. i had 900 friend requests. >> reporter: those friends became hundreds of thousands of followers. ♪ i used to think you never say it's over ♪ ♪ i used to love you so much >> reporter: earning him his first hit single "used to love you sober" which has close to 43 million views on youtube. what do you think did it for your fan base, for your followers? >> i still don't know. i think it's because i opened up to them. i let them know my life. >> reporter: raised by a single mom struggling to make ends meet, kane moved around a lot as a child and said he was bullied in school. >> growing up where i grew up, i always got called the "n" word, all this crazy stuff, picked on and bullied. >> reporter: experiences he shares in his song "learning." ♪ that's why i'm learning how to let it go ♪ >> reporter: today he says she's

challenging perceptions about what country looks like. >> being in country music, being biracial is kind of hard. i get talked down so much because of my look. i really want to change this. i don't feel you should look a certain way to sing a certain genre. everybody thinks i'm a rapper, i can't be a country artist. it drives me crazy. >> how do you think you're going to change the country music industry? >> i think i'm different, i want to change stereotypes. you can't be scared to be different. >> reporter: while many see him as the new school of country music, his vocals compared to legends like johnny cash and randy travis. >> i honestly love the old school sound. i feel like i'm an old soul when it comes to that stuff. but i'm mixed in with new school. i like to sound how i do sound right now. there's times where i want to go back and i do want to write old school songs but you don't know if people are going to go to a party and play that song. ♪ you're fire i'm lightning

>> reporter: with songs like "thunder in the rain." and "heaven." ♪ heaven heaven >> his voice is obviously incredible. he has this country vocal. but just when you meet him, talk to him, see him, he's a cultural crossover. >> reporter: kane now calls narcville home, where he lives with his fiancee kaitlin. on music row. ♪ >> reporter: he shared his creative process. >> you hear a, b, a, b? or a, a, b, b? today is our writing session and i haven't had one in a very long time. these are the guys i wrote my first number one with, "what ifs." >> reporter: he says he finds inspiration for new music in everyday conversation. >> talking to radio stations, talking about my fiancee and our engagement. and this guy on the radio, he said, you don't want it to be over before it started. and i was like, can you repeat what you just said? i wrote it down.

that's what we were just writing right there. ♪ >> reporter: it's hours before showtime in new orleans where he's opening for jason aldean. >> want me to go first? >> i want you to go first. >> reporter: kane and his band take time to unwind. >> there you go. >> oh, yeah! >> so we're basically on a tour bus with 12 guys. it's better than being in a van with 12 guys. >> what's the best part, what's the hardest part? >> the best part's being a family. the hardest part's being a family. >> atlanta, all the way to seagate lounge! >> reporter: we're backstage. after a quick group huddle -- it's showtime. >> there's three reasons to maybe start doing it. one is to make my hometown

proud. two is to make my family proud. three was to make myself proud. but tonight i want to make new orleans proud. so make noise together. ♪ ♪ ♪ all i want to do is make my hometown proud ♪ >> reporter: with his fans singing along -- >> i just want to be able to do arenas. i want people just to know my music. >> reporter: there's not much stopping him now. you say that you're shy. i didn't see shy up there. >> no, i told you, when you get on stage, it kind of goes away. it's just fun when they sing your song back, especially "what ifs," my first number one. they get really loud on that. i'm just ready for more number ones. >> reporter: for "nightline,"

i'm adrienne bankert in new orleans. >> our thanks to adrienne. we'll be right back. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin.

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♪ amazing grace how sweet a sound ♪ ♪ that saved a wretch like me >> the sounds of "amazing grace" at the cmas tonight. a song sung for generations to soothe the wounded soul. this evening many of the gifted artists stood together in a chorus to comfort us all in what have been difficult days. we leave you with their powerful performance of "hold my hand." thanks for the company, america. good night. ♪ hold my hand ♪ hold my hand now hold my hand ♪ ♪ hold my hand

♪ hold my hand >> you're about to meet some folks who have come here today with just one goal, to win massive, life-changing sums of money, and i can't wait to start handing out checks. let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody. welcome to the show. are you guys ready to go? [cheers and applause] we have a returning contestant

today from royersford, pennsylvania. please welcome back amanda jurewicz. [cheers and applause] >> all right. >> welcome back. >> thank you. i'm glad to be back. >> good to see you. we were just getting into your game. we were just starting to have fun. >> almost there. >> and then they canceled the party on us, but we're back, and we are just a step away from that $5,000 threshold. you currently have $3,000 in your bank. you have all of your lifelines, so you're in good shape as we try to take this next pivotal step and get to that threshold. >> sounds good. >> with your permission, i'd like to begin. >> you have my permission. >> all right, let's carry on. let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic musical flourish] again, we're starting with that $5,000 question. here it is. in a recent harris poll, pepperoni was named america's favorite pizza topping. what ranked number two? >> all right, so i have some inklings. i personally don't like some of these, so i think that i'm gonna