Patti Masterman (US)

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 your tired head.

So you want to be a soldier
Be buried 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 unselfishly
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 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.