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]