In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war but it wasn't <br />It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting <br />In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26 <br />In Vietnam he was 19 <br />In-in-in Vietnam he was 19 <br /> <br />The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today <br />25 miles west of Saigon <br />I really wasn't sure what was going on <br /> <br />Ni-ni-ni 19, 19, ni-19 19 <br />19, 19, 19, 19 <br /> <br />In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served <br />A twelve month tour of duty <br />But was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday <br />Ni-ni-ni 19, Ni-ni-ni 19 <br /> <br />Hundreds of thousands of men who saw heavy combat <br />In Vietnam were arrested since discharge <br />Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans of the same age <br />There are no accurate figures of how many of these men <br />Have been incarcerated <br /> <br />But a Veterans Administration study <br />Concludes that the greater of vets <br />Exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances <br />Of being arrested or convicted <br /> <br />This is one legacy of the Vietnam War <br /> <br />All those who remember the war <br />They won't forget what they've seen <br />Destruction of men in their prime <br />Whose average was 19 <br /> <br />De-de-destruction <br />De-de-destruction <br />War, war <br /> <br />De-de-destruction, wa, wa, war, wa, war, war <br />De-de-destruction <br />War, war <br /> <br />After World War II the men came home together on troop ships <br />But the Vietnam vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat <br />Perhaps the most dramatic difference between <br />World War II and Vietnam was coming home <br />None of them received a hero's welcome <br /> <br />None of them received a heroes welcome, none of them, none of them <br />Ne-ne-ne, ne-ne-ne, none of them, none of them, none of them <br />None of them received a hero's welcome <br />None of them received a hero's welcome <br /> <br />According to a Veteran's Administration study <br />Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what <br />Psychiatrists call <br />Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder <br /> <br />Many vets complain of alienation, rage or guilt <br />Some succumb to suicidal thoughts <br />Eight to ten years after coming home <br />Almost eight hundred thousand men are still fighting the Vietnam War <br /> <br />De-de-destruction <br />Ni-ni-ni 19, 19, ni19 19 <br />19, 19, 19, 19 <br />Ni-ni-ni 19, 19, ni-19 19 <br />19, 19, 19, 19 <br /> <br />When we came back it was different, everybody wants to know <br />"How'd it happened to those guys over there <br />There's gotta be something wrong somewhere <br />We did what we had to do <br /> <br />There's gotta be something wrong somewhere <br />People wanted us to be ashamed of what it made us <br />Dad had no idea what he went to fight and he is now <br />All we want to do is come home <br /> <br />All we want to do is come home <br />What did we do it for? <br />All we want to do is come home <br />Was it worth it
