A wall of words
To protect and preserve

I’m like a pig with a sty
I poke out my mind’s eye

That I keep from the general public,
As I scribble only a little above the toilet.

See, wit is my sharpie,
My demons like harpies.

Preparing for my self-immolation,
Or self-prescribed, mental-masturbation.

Merely clever plays of appellation
Courtesy a digital thesaurus
From the “Steve Job’s Apple Nation.”

Got simple languages,
Plotting complex images,

Syntax Stripping,
Mind ripping,
Rind nipping,

Poppin’ melons of rage,
Like Gallagher’s stage,

Releasing my brain juice
I’m Electric Kool-Aid induced.

Was doin’ fine ‘til the tar pipe ran out
Then I left for a year of fear and doubt.

Left for a year of fun in the sun,
Left for a year of Lil’ Stevie’s big gun.

Now, I sit, high, in the hills
While the Man wishes me there, still

Not wishing anything or anyone ill,
But always, I am, and doing as I will.

So, for self-protection,
And self-reflection

I’ll just keep writin’,
As I ain’t much for fightin’.

To protect and preserve,
I’ve got a wall of words.

I’ve got no apology
I did what I did guilt free

I’m part of the great tradition
From war one and on until perdition

See, this mercenary thing ain’t new
We needed only the proxy of Gee Dub and you

They called us the bonus babies
We were supposedly spoilt and lazy

Yeah, we came from farms and factory towns
The lands are barren and industry’s no longer around

We saw our people struggle for years, then finally lose their livings
We can’t eat free-market dreams or live beneath god’s good intentions

We got loved ones to feed
We’re only takin’ what we need

The oppression of a people was our great achievement
Creating a future primed for some major appeasements

You hired a finger to pull the trigger on your fears
Now I figure we’ll be dealing with what I did for years

Nonetheless, I got no apology
No, you’ll get nothing outta me

At the end of the day mostly we needed the money
When I put it like that it’s neither poetic nor funny

Bobby’s mom needs a new trailer
Meltoid’s old lady snorts every dime he can mail her

Worthy goals for sure
But nothing anyone would die for

In a defensive posture
We did some damage for sure

With bodies mangled
And brains scrambled

We came home to you
No, this mercenary thing ain’t new
Don’t need no one to forgive me
And I still got no apology

Don’t ask, because I won’t tell
Your sick voyeurism can go to hell

Askin’ things like, “how many terrorists did you kill?”
Your trying to get off on some sort of vicarious thrill

You’ve no right to pick my brain
I’ve done enough, now I’ll sit with my pain

You pretend to care
In hopes that I’ll share

A grand adventure tale
That’ll set your soul to sail

Or, maybe you want to tell me soldiers are scum
Though you’ve never left the borders of this little town that your from

The public’s lack of sensitivity
Tend to cause some vets to act with hostility

Then we get arrested
In court we are again tested

Then locked away
Far from the light of day

To keep you feeling good
knowing you sent us to do what you thought we should

Why should you suffer
For the pain of me and my sisters and brothers

We took their bullets and bombs
Now we wait to fill our own tombs

So you and your voyeurism can go to hell
But, please don’t ask, because I won’t tell

Come with me as I step back in time
To a place I remember, in the recesses of my mind

When I was a child, I loved to perform
On stage I was safe, the world’s heart warm

Then one day I fell from a van
Then one day I became a man

Found I had it in me to fight
To hunt down the wrong and protect the right

Today I write this feeling quite old
I’ve learned that the world is heartless and cold

Then I knew god and I as one
Now I know my god is a gun

Time to return
Time to relearn

Step back 13 years
Step back from my fears

Look myself in the face
See if any of me is left, just a trace

So I can share my love
Freely, like heaven above

Return to the one
Relearn to feel the fun
Step back from the almighty gun

“Ladies and Gentlemen,
today our fellow citizens,
our way of life, our very freedom were attacked.”

They’re coming for your children
They’re coming for your women

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

If your with us your against them
We’ll send them all down to heaven

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

We’ll kill the bastards no matter what the cost
We’re sure to win ‘cause Jesus ain’t never lost

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

We’re going mobilize
You are going to close your eyes
And smile while you listen to my lies

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

I’ll take away your liberty
Give you color charts of security

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

Defiance now is unamuriCAN
Let’s go invade Afghanistan!

Get on board, let’s roll
Do what you’re told, let’s roll

“As George the POTUS
I gathered y’all before us”

Began the lord-high commander in chief
Around him seated advisors who shared his beliefs

“Afghanistan?
Afghanistan?
Why Afghanistan?

My daddy wants us to go back
Y’all need to find a way into Iraq

How can I use this to make an end
Oh I sure do mean to get my man
I’ve got over a half-million Army men
I only need an excuse to go get my Saddam

I need a plan
Can we implicate Iran?

I’ll need some kinda jump in logic
I got find somethin’ big or symbolic

My daddy wants us to go back
Y’all need to find a way into Iraq

He’s walled in and barricaded
We can say they harbor Al-Quaeda

Oh, why can’t I catch my Saddam
We’ll say we’re freeing people from a madman

I lie in bed with a broken heart at night
We can pretend to care about human rights

I Need to find a connection
What about weapons inspections?
Our teams met only rejection,
I don’t think there’s been any detection.

For Weapons of Mass destruction,
we’ll say we need pre-emptive protection

Yes! This is something I can use!
My friends, we have found an excuse

Yes we’ll plan an invasion!
It’ll be the season’s sensation!

We’ll have guys and gals
In line from Basra to Irbil

Marching all in time
The world’s largest Chorus line!

I’ll pull out all the stops, make a great big show
It’ll be the best invasion that history’s ever known

It’ll be a big one
Twice what Daddy did in ninety-one

I’ll call it shock and awe
That’ll get the approval of my pa

This I can use to make my ends
Oh, I sure do mean to get my man
I’ve got over a half-million Army men
I only need an excuse to go get my Saddam

Oh, Baby I got a plan
I don’t need that dirty old Afghanistan…

Get the guns up
Got to before the suns up

Come on don’t be late
We got to go be the bait

We were born to kill
Come on boys out of bed don’t be still

Get the guns up
Got to go before the sun’s up

Don’t just lie there like you can’t hear
Get your ass up and grab your gear

We are a strategic necessity
We have to get ambushed, you see

We roll real slow looking dumb
We’ve got to lure hajji out so he’ll think he can get some

When they hit us with their homemade ballistics
It provides the survivors with valuable statistics

Get the guns up
Got to go before the sun’s up

We got a new report you got to see
Haj has got some bombs we’ll call IEDs

We think he laid them along this highway
Go and see if you can find them before they blow you skyways

We think they’re laid out along this road
You need to find without making them explode

Don’t worry if you lose an arm or leg
They’ll give you a hook, it’s in some army reg

Get the guns up
Got to go before the sun’s up

Dammit privates I don’t have to argue
I got better things to do
I don’t have to explain shit to you

Grab your socks
And drop the XBOX

Just do as your told
You’re a private, you got no right to grow old

Get the guns up
Got to go before the sun’s up

Smokin’ Reds
And Hajji heads

Desert Heat
Ain’t it neat?

The smell of shit
Here in Satan’s armpit

I signed a contract
A mercenaries pact

I rock a fifty
The other Joe’s think I’m nifty

With the biggest gun
Popping, under Saddam’s sun

Smokin’ Reds
And Hajji heads

All day shit explodes
Like some obscene loads

Yeah, I love to watch them burn
Deep down, I can’t wait my turn

It’ll come, yes it’ll come
The wage each gunman earns

We each pay one another
See the Haj, he’s my brother

We give each other
Back down to the mother

Smokin’ Reds
And Hajji heads

Waiting my turn
For the wage a gunman earns

1411 Camp Buehring, Kuwait
100 degrees and we sit and wait

Enjoying camp boring
Joe’s sacked out and snoring

In tents hiding from the sun
Playing spades to make a little fun

Battle Drills are our mental masturbation
Smoking Reds, sucking up our frustration

Thirty theories on the upcoming mission
Thirty Joes will share their’s if you’ll listen

Guys will tell you their fears and exaggerations
Morale being killed by over-active imaginations

Anything to kill the time while we wait
B Co is stranded, stuck, right here in Kuwait

I was trained to kill
Now this shit is real

Signed In as a pawn
Now, this shit is on

Awaiting an order
To what some may call murder

To do a deed
That G’ dub insists is in need

I drink ‘til I’m numb
Like the rest I play dumb

Blind to all evil
With my attitude regal

That what I do is right
That it’s for freedom we fight

I head off to embrace the unknown
Fully aware that my actions aren’t necessarily condoned

One day at a time
My indifference is my crime

History my judge
Perceived victory my crutch

The final state the world is in
Who it was that caused the first sin