rd Fret Intro: (4x) I was proud to be the soldier I had been since '83 When I joined to pay for college, like my brothers before me I was proud to serve my country and to be a fine Marine But pride cannot protect me from the things that I have seen When they shipped us out of Norfolk, my family came to wave My Mama stood there choking back the tears and looking brave And though we never spoke of it, we all feared it just the same Now they tell me I should talk about the things that I have seen I was trained to take the good shot, I was trained to clean my gun They trained me not to talk back and they trained me not to run And I was trained to be as silent as the shadow of a hawk No one trained me for the silence of the things that I have seen And once I saw an accident on Old Route 17 Mama told me not to look at it, as we slowly passed the scene Though the image of that wreckage was burned into my brain That did not prepare me for the things that I have seen I thought I was a good man, I thought I was elite I thought I'd fight the good fight, that I'd never see defeat And that we'd won that bloody war, how we laughed at their retreat Now I wage a losing battle against the things that I have seen Instrumental: