I am a veteran of the war

I up and joined the army back in 1964

At sixteen I just had to be a man at any cost

I volunteered for Vietnam where I got my leg shot off

I recall a quote from a movie that said "who's more a man

Than a man with a reason that's worth dyin' for"



They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead



They gave me a uniform and a tiny salty pill

To stop the big urge I might have for the wrong kind of thrill

They put a gun in my hand and said, "shoot until he's dead"

But it's hard to kill when 'please your friend' echoes through your head



Brought up in church taught no man should take another's life

But then put in a jungle where life has no price



They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead



Back in the world the paper reads today

Another war is in the brewing

But what about the lives of yesterday

And the many happy families that have been ruined



My niece is a hooker and my nephew's a junkie too

But they say I have no right to tell them how they should do

They laugh and say "quit bragging" 'bout the war you should never have been in

But my mind is so brain-washed I'd prob'bly go back and do it again



I walk the neighborhood parading my purple heart

With a fear of agent orange that no one will stop



They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

They had me standing on the front line

But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead



[Repeat 2 times...fade out]