Am  F  C  G  F

[Verse 1]
              C             F             C
I played with army men as a boy in my backyard
                                          G
I was eighteen when I joined the National Guard
  F                                      C
I cakewalked basic, and they paid for my degree
        F                                        G
All for filling up sandbags and clearing storm debris


[Verse 2]
          Am                   F              C
And I had just re-upped on the base in my hometown
                                                            G
When the whole deal changed on the day that the planes went down
       Em                                F
Just a casual soldier, twelve weekends a year
              C                      G           C      F  Am  G
I was Baghdad bound when they called up the volunteers 


[Verse 3]
          C                   F           C
We’d seen more than enough to know war is hell
                                                          G
But we were thinking that we had it made once the capital fell
      F                                        C
So we partied in the palaces and waited to withdraw
     F                                            G
'Til things started going south both sides of the wall


[Verse 4]
          Am                   F                 C
First the looting, the suicide bombers and the IED's
                                                            G
Then the prisons and the torture and all those pictures on TV
    Em                                            F
The kickbacks, the blackouts, the martyrs and the fear
        C                   G                C     F  Am  G
And now everyone in Babylon blames the volunteers 


[Verse 5]
            C                  F               C
There was a roadside bomb on a convoy late one night
                                                        G
I was fine, but this buddy of mine probably should have died
        F                                         C
So they radioed a medevac and I tried to keep him warm
              F                                              G
Now he’s back home learning how to feed himself with two new arms


[Verse 6]
            Am                       F                     C
And all the others, they suffer from wounds that you can’t see
                                                                   G
So they try to forget and go back home to their jobs and their families
            Em                             F
Yeah we got paid, no one made us come over here
             C                G                   F
But it ain't close to an even trade for the volunteers


[Instrumental]
Am  C  G  Am  F  C  G  F


[Verse 7]
            C                F           C
Maybe we’ll all be judged by history and god
                                                           G
Maybe the best way to honour the departed is to finish the job
               F                                                C
But while they argue who is winning and whether we should go or stay
     F                                                   G
Over here it’s a victory just to make it through another day


[Verse 8]
           Am                   F                       C
And me I’m long past making any sense of the blood I've spilled
                                                       G
But it's hard to believe this is all part of any God’s will
           Em                                       F
And if you find I’ve fallen after all the smoke has cleared
               C   G        Am
Let the record show I volunteered
               C   G        Am
Let the record show I volunteered