Red, White, and Black

The mighty Johnny Nimrod wants to lead the attack
But this ain't like his Xbox, and deer don't shoot you back
The propaganda told him the good guys always win
He got himself recruited for a war that never ends

Or take Airman Youngblood hometown football star
That full-ride scholarship so close but yet so far
His single working mother could barely make the rent
He traded cleats for boots and then it's off to war he went

We raised a generation to ship to distant shores
To fight a war we started before they were even born
We told them they'd be heroes if they'd just sign this form
We told them it's not murder if you wear a uniform
We had to keep them stupid, we had to keep them sick
We turned their parents into paranoid xenophobics
If we can keep them hopeless in abject poverty
They'll feed their children to red white and black war machine

The red white and black war machine
The red white and black war machine

Now Johnny can't find work, spends SSI on drugs
And thinks he's so much better than welfare-loving thugs
His friends came home in boxes and they're the lucky ones
Because once there's no one left to kill he'll swallow his own gun

And for our budding airman things begin to look grim
We sent back home to mother what was left of him
Found out that bright tomorrow was lies to lure him in
The doctors tell him that he'll likely never walk again

We raised a generation to ship to distant shores
To fight a war we started before they were even born
We told them they'd be heroes if they'd just sign this form
We told them it's not murder if you wear a uniform
We had to keep them stupid, we had to keep them sick
We turned their parents into paranoid xenophobics
If we can keep them hopeless in abject poverty
They'll feed their children to red white and black war machine