on our broadcast tonight, american isis. an nbc news exclusive. a former national guardsman who made the journey overseas to join the enemy. tonight, he tells us why he did it. into danger, an american doctor who went into the hot zone after two of his friends nearly died from ebola has now been stricken as well. an now hear from one of those friends who survived. when every second counts, why some drivers freeze up in emergency.

tonight, what our cameras found on the road, what to do and on the road, what to do and what not to do. and a big surprise from country music superstar tim mcgraw making a difference for our veterans and their families. "nbc nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbnightly news" with bri williams. good evening. it is among the scariest threats our nation has faced since 9/11. and after the beheading of a second american now by isis, for all those who may be wondering if the u.s. is going to rise up, take the bait and get into the fight to root them out, the answer today from both the president and vice president appeared to be clear and unambiguous. >> we will not be intimidated. their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists and those who make the mistake of harming americans will learn

that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served. >> as a nation we're united. and when people harm americans, we don't retreat. we don't forget. we take care of those who are grieving. and when that's finished, they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. >> the vice president today at the portsmouth naval shipyard. the president before that in astonia. and as the u.s. decides to go after isis, isis continues to attract and recruit members. just today the u.s. secretary of defense said upwards of a hundred americans are believed to be fighting for isis in the middle east. and tonight in an nbc news exclusive richard engel's been able to find one of those americans. richard's with us tonight from the syrian border in turkey. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian.

we've reported americans have tried to join isis, but we haven't been able to hear directly from one of them until now. isis militants are brutal killers whose victims include americans. yet there are americans, an unknown number, who are isis recruits including donald morgan. >> my islamic name abdul raheem. >> reporter: what attracted him to isis? >> someone has to defend islam. and somebody has to defend innocent muslims. >> reporter: nbc news interviewed morgan in beirut through a freelance journalist. he didn't hide his intention to join isis, which calls itself the islamic state. >> i purchased the ticket with the intent of entering the syria after joining up with medical and food aid convoys and directly with the islamic state. >> reporter: don morgan now 44 was educated at a military academy. he was a member of the national guard. a deputy sheriff.

a bodybuilder. raised catholic in salisbury, north carolina. this is the house where don morgan lived, at the end of a quiet street in a middle class neighborhood. and the question on the minds of his co-workers and neighbors is why would someone want to leave suburban north carolina to join the vicious fight in syria? >> this guy is from small town, salisbury, north carolina, he's not from the middle east. he's not from a messed up family situation. he's a hometown guy. >> reporter: brian beaver has known morgan for 15 years. do you think he was dangerous toward the end? >> i can see him being dangerous. i can. >> reporter: morgan had been in trouble with the law and served time on gun charges. colleagues and law enforcement officials describe an angry man struggling to fit in and finding a cause in radical islam. >> this is it. this is the path. this is the way you're going to go.

>> reporter: morgan says the change came two years ago. spending hours on the internet following the wars in the middle east, he got sucked in and started tweeting radical messages under an arabic pseudonym. >> a push came from being mistreated by people around me who didn't share the views i had. >> reporter: he decided to join isis last june and began to make his way from beirut to syria. but he was stopped on the way by authorities in turkey and sent back. soon after our interview, running low on money, morgan returned to the u.s. knowing the risk. >> i think there's a strong possibility that they'll charge me with supporting terrorist organizations and participating in terrorist activities. >> reporter: but does he think he's participating in terrorist activities? >> based on the definition, yes. >> reporter: when morgan returned to the u.s. last month he was arrested, but not for

terrorism. he's accused of trying to sell a firearm online, which as a convicted felon he's not allowed to own. he remains in custody. he's pleaded not guilty. morgan himself says he's not a terrorist and does not pose a threat to the united states. others don't agree. >> richard engel starting us off tonight from the syrian border with turkey. richard, thanks. president obama is about to embark on a nato meeting in wales. these gatherings haven't always been considered vitally important. in fact, just a few years back one former u.s. defense secretary brought crossword puzzles to pass the time. but with trouble around the world, with the isis threat, this gathering of nato has an urgency more of the cold war era. our senior white house correspondent chris jansing is there and traveling with the president. chris, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. what a contrast at the last nato meeting the talk was about winding down the war in afghanistan. now it's about gearing up on two

critical fronts. the first is isis and the threat that some of those foreign fighters bring both to europe and the united states should they come back and mount attacks on the homeland. it's not officially an agenda item, but there are expected to be a lot of side talks about it including at a meeting tomorrow morning between president obama and british prime minister david cameron. the president wants to form a coalition even as there's mounting pressure at home to take action swiftly. the president also looking for support to form a coalition, what to do about vladimir putin. he's just come from the baltics. a lot of concern there they could be next in a putin land grab. really interesting given that one of the original reasons for nato was to fight russian aggression. there have been 17 of these nato summits since the fall of the berlin wall, brian, this one shaping up with these two major issues around the world to be the most consequential yet. >> chris jansing covering this nato gathering in cardiff, wales, tonight. chris, thanks. another topic at that nato

meeting will be the ebola fight. just today the number of deaths officially topped 1,900. it's still spreading faster than effort to stop it. and an american missionary is speaking for the first time about her battle with the disease as we learn more about another american doctor who's been infected. we've got the story tonight from our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: 51-year-old doctor rick sacra from worcester, massachusetts, volunteered to go to liberia a month ago when he heard his colleagues nancy writebol and dr. kent brantly contracted ebola and were being evacuated. ironically he was not treating ebola patients when he became infected. he was working in the maternity ward. >> here's a doctor bringing new life into liberia as death is surrounding us. >> reporter: today, nancy writebol spoke to the public for the first time, two weeks after quietly leaving emory university hospital. >> there were many mornings i woke up and thought i'm alive. >> reporter: in liberia,

writebol had been working long hours cleaning protective suits for doctors and nurses. after developing a fever, she told matt lauer, her husband broke the news to her. she was infected. >> i was laying down and david went to hug me and to put his arms around me. and i knew how dangerous that was. and i just said, dave, just don't. >> how bad did it get for you? how sick did you get? >> well, the night i was evacuated and when they put me on the airplane, i was bad. and when i said good-bye to david, i was not sure that i would ever see him again. >> reporter: now home and getting stronger, both writebol and dr. brantly say they want the world to do more to help the people of west africa. >> i hope that my survival can help more people in africa

survive by motivating international community to take action. >> action that now includes dealing with another crisis, starvation. food supplies are not reaching people in isolation. and this situation is growing more dire by the day, brian. >> nancy, thank you for that. we want to let the folks watching know we'll get much more from these american survivors of this ebola outbreak in an nbc news primetime special we are calling "saving dr. brantly." that's friday night at 10:00, 9:00 central. in this country, a major drugstore chain has become the first to make a big change. cvs has stopped selling cigarettes and other tobacco products today saying it will be good for business as it focuses on the health of its customers. we get details tonight from our national correspondent kate snow. >> of course we're all going to die some day. but do we have to pay for it? >> reporter: in the movie "clerks," easy access to cigarettes was the butt of a joke. but cvs is the first big

retailer to turn those tobacco customers away. and their pr team is playing it up with a 50-foot cigarette in new york city park today being constantly snuffed out. >> we looked in the mirror and ask the hard questions and we're proud to say we're the first national pharmacy chain to take that step. somebody had to be first. we're proud to say it was us. >> reporter: the move was hailed by the obama administration, the first ladyweeting "thank you cvs health," but there's more to the decision than health concerns. >> this is really a business decision for them. they re-branded themselves with cvs health because they want to be seen as a big health player. and they are a very big health player. it's not just their drugstores, they are also the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager. >> reporter: yes, there are some frustrated customers. >> i think it's a big inconvenience. because, you know, it's like a one-stop shop. >> reporter: but with tobacco sales plummeting over the past 30 years, cvs believes customers will come any way.

>> i think it's a great thing they're doing. >> reporter: many anti-smoking activists hopes the move encourages other stores to quit the tobacco habit too. but tonight at the other big chains, cigarettes still filled the shelves. kate snow, nbc news, new york. one more health news item here. we've all seen the commercials here and elsewhere. and while they will likely continue, the fda says there's little evidence that testosterone boosting drugs taken by millions of american men are actually effective. but they add there's no real evidence to say they pose a serious risk either. the condition has been marketed as low "t" and the medications are offered to help with low sex drive and fatigue among some men. still ahead for us tonight, in an emergency, lights and sirens when seconds count. tonight, why so many drivers don't move out of the way. and later, a big surprise from one of the biggest names in music. tim mcgraw changing lives for american veterans and their families. lives for american veterans and their families. (announcer) are you dealing with hot flashes during menopause?

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perhaps this has happened to you, you're driving in your car, which is so quiet it serves as a sanctuary from the modern world where you can play music or talk on the phone as you see fit when suddenly in the rearview mirror you see strobe lights and you realize the siren you hear is aimed at you and first responders are trying to get through. it's right at this point where so many otherwise level-headed drivers often freeze or have no earthly idea what to do. it's part of a big problem involving first responders getting where they need to go. we get our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: the bystander who called 911 last may -- >> he's shaking. his body is shaking. >> reporter: was already doing cpr on michael lui who collapsed into cardiac arrest while jogging. paramedics call it a priority one call. >> what are you going to now? >> reporter: a patient's chances of surviving drop 10% with every minute that passes. because nationwide modern ems

and fire fighting tactics require many more units on the initial response. back in maryland, michael lui celebrated his 32nd birthday last week with firefighters and the woman who saved him. if the medics had been delayed, what would have happened? >> i would have died. if they had been any later in getting there, i wouldn't have made it. >> reporter: but because the system worked, a little boy named nathan has his dad back. tom costello, nbc news, gaithersburg, maryland. another break for us. we're back in a moment with a bigamist ri that appears to have been solved at one of the most mysterious places on the planet. mysterious places on the planet. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns... that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain... when jamie says... what's that like six pills today? yeah... i can take 2 aleve for all day relief. really, and... and that's it. this is kathleen... for my arthritis pain, i now choose aleve.

and designed a comprehensive program to help smokers quit, too. [ knocks ] expanded minuteclinic with over 900 locations for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new approach. a new purpose. a new promise... to do everything we can... to help all those wishes come true. [ applause ] cvs health. because health is everything. finally tonight, one of the biggest names in country music is behind a good deed. a life changer actually. for the men and women who have