Back at home you have a house or apartment
Rooms, things, space
Out here you live far more simply
Un-succembed to the rat-race
Your CHU is your home – all you have this time
Be it shared or housed alone
When out on patrol it’s the Stryker you’ve got
In summer’s heat, winter’s chill to the bone
You dismount for days with your pack
You carry what you need
Little room inside for comfort things
Keep warm or dry – no greed
The food you need and water’s life
Extra radio batteries
Some frag-grenades and candy bars
Don’t forget more magazines
And in the fight you drop away
What only weighs you down
Just your helmet, vest, a utility pouch
Get you closer to the ground
What’s on you now is what you’ve got
Uniform and skin your home
Behind a berm or in some ditch
Your own little catacomb
Dodge the fire, move to the fight
You’ve got more things to do
Map in your pocket guides you right
Back ‘home’ when fighting’s through
Unless it’s bad, going quickly south
Your Kevlar hug and helmet’s hide
These are where you’ll live till it’s through
As your hope is shrunken inside
The world is big and you are small
But You are what you control
Don’t be afraid, war takes your life
But cannot take your soul