first, our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this massive leak provides incredible detail and insight into the u.s. war in afghanistan. day by day, battle by battle it's a tough look at the worst of the war. the staggering mountain of documents, nearly 92,000, covers a six-year stretch of the war ending last december when the u.s. war effort was failing and the taliban was on the rise. the secret documents were released by the whistleblower website wikileaks and its founder, julian assange. >> the real story of this material is that it's war. it's one damn thing after another. it is the continuous small events, the continuous deaths of children, insurgents. >> reporter: many of the documents tear the cover off pakistan's alleged secret support for the taliban. the u.s. has long complained to pakistan that its intelligence service, the isi, was working with the taliban, but today's release provides shocking and specific new details. even as pakistan accepted billions in u.s. aid

we begin tonight with our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. based on this new report, the army promises to fix its mental health problems and put its soldiers first, but it's got a long way to go. as a specialist in the army jennifer crane was sent off to afghanistan. >> two weeks after we landed there, we were attacked for the first time. >> reporter: the war took a heavy personal toll. once back home, she got hooked on cocaine and ended up on the streets. >> unfortunately, didn't cope with anything fairly well. >> reporter: jennifer got the necessary counseling and is back on her feet, but a devastating new report from the army today reveals that after nine years of war, thousands of soldiers never survive their own personal battles. >> we have an army that's been fully engaged for almost nine years now. i don't think that we fully understand the toll that that's taken on the forces. >> reporter: the numbers are staggering. last year, more than 1,700 soldiers attempted suicide. 160 succeede

our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has more on the hearings and the general. >> reporter: this is not exactly what general james mattis had in mind when ordered to take the hill. but in his senate hearing today, mattis, true to form, did not pull any punches. like his reaction to the leak of thousands of classified documents to wikileaks. >> one of the newspaper headlines was that it's -- the war is a tense and dangerous thing. well, i -- if that is news, i don't know who it's news to that's on this planet. >> general mattis is also known for engaging at times in a little straight talk. something that this senator particularly appreciates. >> reporter: but it's his gruff demeanor that sometimes gets him into trouble. such as remarks in 2005, which appeared to glorify killing the taliban. >> you go into afghanistan, you have women walking around not wearing a veil. those guys have no manhood left. >> reporter: he was reprimanded and that was enough for gates. >> the lesson was learn. >> repor8-r: a 3year veteran, mattis has commanded combat marines in iraq and afghanistan, and w

jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> the oldest member of the u.s. senate is being replaced by the youngest. west virginia's governor today announced his choice to temporarily fill the senate seat of the late robert byrd. carte goodwin is a lawyer who was, until recently, the governor's general counsel. he's 36 years old and will hold the seat until a special election in november. >>> parts of the country are sweltering tonight. yes, it is summer, but in places the heat is almost too much to bear and then there is the power grid to worry about. weather channel meteorologist chris warren is with us tonight with more on what's going on with the heat situation on the coast and in between. again, chris, we get that it's july, but we cover it when it does turn severe. >> and it certainly is hot. now, a report recently from noaa says that on a global scale, compared to average june, the warmest on record. all you have to do is go outside in most areas to feel the heat. take a look at the heat index. what we are looking at here -- this is the temperature wi

jim miklaszewski is nbc's chief pentagon correspondent, monitoring the situation. what is the latest? >> this is the worst nightmares in afghanistan, there's still confusion exactly what did happen. what we did know is that these two sailors went missing on friday, as they were driving from one u.s. military compound to another there in kabul. what's still baffling however is how they ended up 80 miles to the south in logar province where the armored suv driven by the two sailors was first spotted. the taliban set up an ambush, there was a shoot-out, one american was apparently killed. now u.s. military officials will not confirm the details of that account but they can't refute it either. an intensive manhunt is under way, search operations there in that area of afghanistan this morning, u.s. military have set up checkpoints, passing out leaflets with photographs of the two soldiers or two sailors offering $20,000 reward. >> to the extent the taliban has acknowledged this does that suggest there are going to be some negotiations or demands for their release? >> we

nbc's pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski joins us from our newsroom. >> u.s. military officials are baffled, asking how did their two sailors get so far from their post and attacked by the taliban? at the same time, they're determined to track down and return the two americans. u.s. forces launched a massive search for the missing sailors, setting up checkpoints, searching for the slightest clue. in kabul today, joint chiefs chairman, admiral mike mullen. >> there's a tremendous effort going on to find them, to search. >> reporter: what happened to them is still a mystery. friday, the two americans left a compound in kabul, where they train afghan soldiers for a scheduled visit to a u.s. base nearby. driving an armored suv, they were due back some two hours later. but never returned. inexplicably, the pair reportedly showed up 80 miles away in logar province, afghan officials say the americans were ambushed by taliban fighters. in a fierce fight, one sailor was killed and the other taken hostage. their bullet-riddled suv was found stripped clean, but no sign o

we have nbc's jim miklaszewski at the story there. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. some analysts comparing those to the pentagon papers. the reams of documents provide specific names and dates when pakistani government officials provided support to the taliban, waging war against americans in afghanistan. on that front, there is still no new word this morning on the fate or whereabouts of the two missing sailors, believed to have been taken hostage by the taliban. u.s. military officials are still trying to figure out how those sailors got so far from base and wandered into the heart of taliban country. u.s. forces set up checkpoints desperately searching for the slightest clue, and passed out leaflets with photos of the sailors, offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to their location. >> there is a tremendous amount of effort going on to find them. >> reporter: but what happened is still a mystery. the two americans disappeared while driving from their compound in kabul to a u.s. base nearby. u.s. officials say it seems impossible they would have gotten

but first nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon with the very latest. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. while the white house is aggressively trying to control the political trying to contro the political fallout while the pent dwagon is assessing any potential damage to security. they are in a desperate search for the leakers themselves. in his first public response to the wikileaks controversy, president obama worried it could put american troops at risk but said there is nothing in the leaks to change his afghan war strategy. >> the fact is these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on afghanistan. >> reporter: on capitol hill, marine corps general james madus couldn't contain his thoughts. >> it is appalling to release this information. >> the yeas, 308. >> reporter: the house finally passed a bill to pay for the bill after democrats in both houses stalled the votes for months. >> all of us, however, are concerned that after nearly nine years of war, more than 1,000 american casualties and billions of u.s. taxpayer dollars the t