INTRO: Am  G   (4x)

      Am              C             G
I was proud to be the soldier I had been since '83
       Am                F                E
When I joined to pay for college, like my brothers before me
      Am                C              G
I was proud to serve my country and to be a fine Marine
    Am              F                E                       Am  G  Am  G
But pride cannot protect me from the things that I have seen


          Am                   C        G
When they shipped us out of Norfolk, my family came to wave
   Am               F                E
My Mama stood there choking back the tears and looking brave
    Am              C                   G
And though we never spoke of it, we all feared it just the same
         Am               F              E                  Am  G 
Now they tell me I should talk about the things that I have seen


      F                                    G                   Am
I was trained to take the good shot, I was trained to clean my gun
     F                                    Em                F
They trained me not to talk back and they trained me not to run
          Am               C             G
And I was trained to be as silent as the shadow of a hawk
       Am                 F              E                  Am  G Am G
No one trained me for the silence of the things that I have seen


    Am            C           G
And once I saw an accident on Old Route 17
     Am                     F         E
Mama told me not to look at it, as we slowly passed the scene
           Am            C            G
Though the image of that wreckage was burned into my brain
Am              F               E                  Am  G
That did not prepare me for the things that I have seen


  F                           G              Am
I thought I was a good man, I thought I was elite
  F                                          Em          F
I thought I'd fight the good fight, that I'd never see defeat
              Am              C           G
And that we'd won that bloody war, how we laughed at their retreat
      Am            F                  E                  Am   G
Now I wage a losing battle against the things that I have seen


INSTRUMENTAL: Am  G  (7x)


        Am          C           G
Just be glad modern science has given us so much
       Am                F                E
We can rifle through the channels without ever standing up
      Am           C              G
But I can't find a station that's finally had enough
        Am          F               E                  Am   G
Of this morbid fascination with the things that I have seen
    Am               F                 E                  F    G
And me, I can't stop dreaming of these things that I have seen