Volunteers Chords & Lyrics - Mark Erelli

CAPO: 4th fret

[INTRO]
[Am] [F] [C] [G] [F]

[VERSE 1]
I played with [C]army men as a [F]boy in my back[C]yard
I was eighteen when I joined the National [G]Guard
I [F]cakewalked basic, and they paid for my [C]degree
All for [F]filling up sandbags and clearing storm de[G]bris

[VERSE 2]
And I had [Am]just re-upped on the [F]base in my home[C]town
When the whole deal changed on the day that the planes went [G]down
Just a [Em]casual soldier, twelve weekends a [F]year
I was Baghdad [C]bound when they called [G]up the volun[C]teers [F] [Am] [G]

[VERSE 3]
We’d seen [C]more than enough to [F]know war is [C]hell
But we were thinking that we had it made once the capital [G]fell
So we [F]partied in the palaces and waited to with[C]draw
'Til [F]things started going south both sides of the [G]wall

[VERSE 4]
First the [Am]looting, the suicide [F]bombers and the IE[C]D's
Then the prisons and the torture and all those pictures on T[G]V
The [Em]kickbacks, the blackouts, the martyrs and the [F]fear
And now [C]everyone in Babylon [G]blames the volunt[C]eers [F] [Am] [G]

[VERSE 5]
There was a [C]roadside bomb on a [F]convoy late one [C]night
I was fine, but this buddy of mine probably should have [G]died
So they [F]radioed a medevac and I tried to keep him [C]warm
Now he’s back [F]home learning how to feed himself with two new [G]arms

[VERSE 6]
And all the [Am]others, they suffer from [F]wounds that you can’t [C]see
So they try to forget and go back home to their jobs and their fami[G]lies
Yeah we got [Em]paid, no one made us come over [F]here
But it ain't [C]close to an even [G]trade for the volunt[F]eers

[INSTRUMENTAL]
[Am] [C] [G] [Am] [F] [C] [G] [F]

[VERSE 7]
Maybe we’ll [C]all be judged by [F]history and [C]god
Maybe the best way to honour the departed is to finish the [G]job
But while they [F]argue who is winning and whether we should go or [C]stay
Over [F]here it’s a victory just to make it through another [G]day

[VERSE 8]
And me I’m [Am]long past making any [F]sense of the blood I've [C]spilled
But it's hard to believe this is all part of any God’s [G]will
And if you [Em]find I’ve fallen after all the smoke has [F]cleared
Let the record [C]show[G] I volunt[Am]eered
Let the record [C]show[G] I volunt[Am]eered

[OUTRO]
[F] [Am] [G] [Am] [F] [C] [G] [C]