Pain is pain and death is death
No one’s life is worth more
No one’s life is worth less.

I served in Viet Nam during 1969
A proud 18 year old marine marching in time
Simper Fi, do or die, was our battle cry
Oh, yes, we had swallowed the lie
And 3 million Vietnamese men, women, and children died.

It wasn’t long before the Viet Cong gained our respect
By putting the world’s most powerful military into check
And with little more than committed hearts and small arms weapon’s fire
These committed Vietnamese eventually laid 58,000 American’s to rest.

For those of us who survived that war so very far away
Only to be mired in nightmares that are here to stay
Within a sea of drugs and alcohol many now lay
But not even they can begin to wash our sins -of -war -away.

My country right or wrong is what we once believed
Now we are left wrestling with our bloodied deeds
The death of innocence planted its malignant seed
And now we war veterans struggle with PTSD.

Post traumatic stress disorder is what they call it
A noose around your neck - more than symbolic
The Veterans Administration now stubbornly admits
That as many as 50% of Viet Nam vets are cursed with it.

And here we are again today
Far beyond our borders we have strayed
Another generation scared and betrayed
For that is the price our youth will pay.

Yes, a new generation has answered a false alarm
Resulting in road side bombs - severed legs and severed arms
And for those who survive are condemned to carry
A life time of emotional detachment - filled with painful memories.

I went to Iraq in the Spring of 03
To witness with a camera the lies our nation believed
The reality of Shock and Awe – a symptom of a violent disease
Overtaking our nation and laying to waist so many innocent Iraqis.

A body count of over 100,000 civilians this war has now claimed
Are we any better than Saddam Hussein
For now we are the dreaded and violent enemy
Torture and prison without trials - where is our humanity?

I’ve seen and smelled this all before
The manipulation of patriotism wrapped around an immoral war
And the stench of death embedded in the senses of those who survive
And now over 2,000 young soldiers and Marines have needlessly died.

If you have a son, a sister, brother or daughter
Soon to become this administration’s cannon fodder
It is your responsibility to counter the lies
Or you may share the guilt of their physical and emotional demise.

Even though the loss of each U.S. soldier and Marine is immense
They do not feel pain or the sting of death any more or any less
Than innocent Iraqi men, women and their children.
So let us support our troops by bringing them home now
Let that be our plea, our prayer, our committed vow.