i was 17 just a teenage kid the year that i enlisted i cant remember why i did my mom said i insisted i had some strange idea then that uncle sam was right oh momma cried but she signed the card and then i went off to fight got off the plane in vietnam it didnt seem like war with all i saw i started to wonder what i had come there for some officers got drunk at night and cheated on their wives and the peasants on the other side were just struggling for their lives oh the army tried some fancy stuff to bring them to their knees like agent orange defoliant to kill the brush and trees wed hike all day on jungle trails through clouds of poison spray and they never told me then that it would hurt my health today but i got the news this morning yeah the doctors told me so they killed me in vietnam and i didnt even know i tried hard to forget the war like everybody did settled down got married even had a couple of kids well my children both had birth defects and the doctors had their doubts they never could understand it but i think i figured it out because i got the news this morning yea the doctors told me so they killed me in vietnam and i didnt even know this agent orange from vietnam we carry it with us still it stays inside for years and years before it starts to kill you might get cancer of the liver you might get cancer of the skin you can file for disability but you might not live to win oh i got the news this morning yeah the doctors told me so they killed me in vietnam and i didnt even know oh the doctor said i got some time trying to be kind ive never been a radical but this has changed my mind oh id be so proud to hear my kids say hell no i wont go because you killed my dad in vietnam and he didnt even know yes id be so proud to hear my kid say hell no i wont go because you killed my dad and he didnt even know 