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
