So You Want To Be A Soldier

So you want to be a soldier
And learn those fighting moves
Be a member of a team 
In the soldier's school


So you want to be a soldier
And go far from your home,
And learn there how to be a man
As you fight and roam 


So you want to be a soldier 
And hold your buddy's hand,
As they breathe their final,
There on some mortal sand.


So you want to be a soldier 
And call the road your bed,
And never know just when or how 
You'll lay down you tired head.


So you want to be a soldier
Be buries in some plot-
Maybe far from your hometown,
After you have fought.


So you want to be a soldier
Well there's no finer choice,
Than giving so selfishly
To freedoms song, your voice.


You want to be a soldier
And you could do much worse,
And choose the cowards way to go
And walk, behind the hearse.


But your name they'll remember,
As they speak of you with awe;
And wonder at your bravery,
And wonder what you saw.


Many men will shake your hand
And thank you for their freedom,
They'll say it is a gift from god
That you are still breathing.


You'll live more than more thanj other men
And suffer much more too,
But in the end , you'll count it as 
The best thing you could do.


And the biggest thank you,
That you will ever receive, 
Is in the eyes of loved ones
When you're back home again.


So if you know an older soldier,
Please shake his hand today 
And tell him that you're grateful 
He chose the soldier's way 


-Patti Masterman