Front line

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