Too scared to go to proud to run

Here's your orders boy here's your gun

We're sending you off to Vietnam

Try to stay cool try to stay calm



Never seen nothin' but that Mid-Texas dirt

Never been on a flying machine

Your job now is to take this gun

And kill everything that you see



It's a long way home



Orange in the air

Fire on the ground

Them back up boys ain't no where around

There's smoke in the sky

You're screamin' to the sea

Oh God have mercy on me



It's a long way home



Got that medal on your chest

Now you got it made

But you're going back to a land of protest

And an empty hero's parade



Waking up in the dead of night

Screaming out your lungs

Jungle fires and trip bomb wires

And blazin' red turret guns



It's a long way home