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RJ Wright, performing at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA.
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Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
0:02
i
0:03
left my home
0:06
to join the army
0:08
[Music]
0:10
the day i laughed
0:13
my mama cried
0:17
she didn’t know if i
0:20
if i would survive
0:24
i’m an american soldier i’m a warrior
0:26
and a member of a team
0:28
i serve a country that does not value my
0:29
voice simply closed captions me to fit
0:31
whatever narrative they deem patriotic
0:33
america be so star-spangled awesome it’s
0:35
these boys wearing skin like mine
0:37
as crimes and progress if you never put
0:39
on a uniform
0:40
don’t tell me what i’m fighting for i
0:42
learned earlier the ideal of mission
0:44
first
0:44
people always and soon after the reality
0:46
of mission first mission always
0:48
you don’t know pain until you know the
0:49
remorse of survival soldiers hot
0:51
shrapnel of battlefields we never leave
0:53
under our uniforms and in our memories
0:55
uncle sam might molest you but he pays
0:57
for college
1:00
dysfunction is not to be spoken of
1:02
outside of this family this uniform
1:04
his family this formation his family
1:06
what’s left
1:07
and this foxhole stays in this foxhole
1:09
like arms
1:10
legs sanity i will never leave a fallen
1:13
comrade i will never accept defeat i
1:14
will never quit i will never quit i will
1:16
never quit
1:16
i will never quit i will never quit i
1:18
took this out without reservation or
1:19
purpose of evasion being a soldier
1:21
means being caught between politics and
1:22
wall street the military are america’s
1:24
middle children
1:25
the forgotten gis whose broken bodies
1:28
and tombstones are receipts for this
1:29
american way of life
1:30
we can’t worry we can’t worry about the
1:32
war games being played on the home front
1:34
while playing politics and foreign
1:35
sandboxes
1:36
having home in your sights will only get
1:37
you boxed in to a 21 gun salute
1:40
detail attention a hero tuck your teeth
1:43
back into your head ain’t no
1:45
smiling at attention
1:48
on the cool basic training was the
1:50
funniest place i was never allowed to
1:52
laugh
1:54
i heard i heard so many jokes
1:57
like 40 veterans walk into a hospital
2:00
they die while waiting for treatment
2:03
what do you call a soldier with no legs
2:05
medically discharged what does america
2:08
call the veterans they love so much
2:11
homeless what do you call a soldier
2:13
whose wife cheats on them
2:15
while they’re in a military zone a
2:18
suicide risk
2:19
what do you call a convoy caught in an
2:21
ambush with no help coming
2:24
a funeral procession did you hear the
2:26
one about the soldier who never made it
2:28
home to see his newborn
2:31
why aren’t you laughing haven’t you
2:33
learned to adapt and overcome yet
2:36
isn’t it funny how everyone is thankful
2:37
for your service so you ask them to make
2:40
a sacrifice
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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