What can you see from your window?   I can't see anythin' from mine   Flags on the side of the highway   And scripture on grocery store signs      Maybe eighteen was too early   Maybe thirty or forty is too   Did you get your chance to make peace with the man   Before He sent down his angels for you?      Mamas and grand mamas love you   'Cause that's all they know how to do   You never planned on the bombs in the sand   Or sleepin' in your dress blues      Your wife said this all would be funny   When you got back home in a week   Turn twenty two and we'd celebrate you   In a bar or a tent by the creek      Your baby would just about be here   And your very last tour would be up   But you won't be back, they're all dressin' in black   Drinkin' sweet tea in Styrofoam cups      Mamas and grand mamas love you   American boys hate to lose   You never planned on the bombs in the sand   Or sleepin' in your dress blues      The high school gymnasium's ready   Full of flowers and old Legionnaires   Nobody showed up to protest   Just sniffle and stare      There's red, white and blue in the rafters   And there's silent old men from the Corps   What did they say when they shipped you away   To fight somebody's Hollywood war?      Nobody here could forget you   You showed us what we had to lose   You never planned on the bombs in the sand   Or sleepin' in your dress blues   You never planned on the bombs in the sand   Or sleepin' in your dress blues