Friends in the Armed Forces

There's a purple heart on the stars and stripes tonight
It's pinned to the chest of the latest liar
And if you try to speak your mind, they tell you
"Keep it to yourself, you got friends in the armed forces"
They wanna know which side you're on
Doesn't matter 'cause we're all being used

To train, to fight
Disregard our human rights
To play the part
The conscience of the damned
You say you're defending me?
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons
Praying not to see

Another folded flag to a mourning mother
He was an army of one but they'll find another
And in the fold of the body bag
She'll find a check for a hundred grand
You got friends in the armed forces
Now we know what a soldier costs
It's the cost of the rest of us

To take a life
We all have our price
The wife and kids sleep soundly in their beds
You say you're defending me
I'm untying yellow ribbons
On every single tree I see

They'll float like butterflies back home
And I can feel the desert's heat
When you're standing next to me
Friendship offers no relief
Stay with me now, just hear me out
Don't want to lose you to that great black cloud coming down

You've seen the path a bullet makes
When it calls you by your name
And the medic can't play the rhythm of your heart
So it starts to fade like footsteps in a march
The parade passes by
The ticker tape will rise like sparks when we're born

To change our minds
Everything that's wrong looks right
The lives we lead
Are somewhere in between

March!

You say you're defending me (left, right, left, right)
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons (left, right, left, right)
Praying not to see (now sing it!)
We're not going to Hell
To run rings around a wishing well