it s really been our guiding light ever since then. reporter: travis best friend navy s.e.a.l. brendan looney breaking down while remembering the fallen hero. i was lucky enough to meet travis at the naval academy for two years. after a short time he became like a best friend. he s a great friend. i will never forget him. i miss him. reporter: brendan made the ultimate sacrifice three years later on, september 21st 2010. only ten days before he was supposed to return to the u.s. the helicopter carrying brendan and his fellow navy s.e.a.l.s went down in the mountains of afghanistan. the friendship between first lieutenant travis and brendan looney reflects the meaning of memorial day. brotherhood, sacrifice, love of country. reporter: travis and brendan reunited again this their final resting place, arlington
now, frankly, an epidemic of distracted driving. it s september 21st, 2010. i m chuck todd. good morning. i m savannah guthrie. let s get right to the rundown. we re going to start with that breaking news out of afghanistan. nine americans were killed in a helicopter crash overnight, making this the deadliest year for western force so far as. nbc s john yang is live in kabul with the latest. john, good morning. what happened here? reporter: good morning, savannah. this was the worst helicopter crash in about four years for u.s. troops. nine troops dead. this happened in zabul province, which is in the south-southeastern section of afghanistan. an area where the taliban controls much of the territory and where coalition forces have been stepping up their attempts to push the taliban out. we are told this crash happened about 4:00 this morning, local time. the military says that there were no reports of enemy fire. that the crash is still under investigation. now, despite the fact th