war MAPS Lyrics

We send our people overseas to be all you can be

Pick up a weapon, get to steppin', don't repeat what you've seen

While somebody profits off of every bullet machine

We suffer night terrors, cold sweats, and PTSD

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war, war, war

Victor was a good kid, smoked a lot of weed

Liked skating mini ramps and riding on ATVs

Just couldn't keep his head out of trouble with the police

Trespassing and possession, offended habitually

By the fifth time, at home he's dodging landmines

Military father, no patience for his problems

When his college applications included incarceration

Felt he didn't stand a chance, no matter much what his grades was

One day, in the lunchroom with little hope

He saw a recruiter waving to him from a table on the other side

He approached with a vulnerable mind

They told him he could change his life, if only he'd sign

They told him stories about the glories of the battles

And the money, and the travel, and the honor

He thought about his father, it was fishy

But he bit the hook out of desperation

Two days after graduation, on his way to basic training

We send our people overseas to be all you can be

Pick up a weapon, get to steppin', don't repeat what you see

While somebody profits off of every bullet machine

We suffer night terrors, cold sweats, and PTSD

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war for the money

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war, war, war

Fast forward through two tours in foreign wars

He returned highly decorated from how he performed

He was married and reformed, but he wasn't quite the same

Even on the brightest days, you could tell he carried pain

One night, he was with his wife, driving home late

He got drowsy at the wheel, so she tried to switch the play

When she touched him on the shoulder, just to ask him to pull over

What came next was unexpected, he forgot where he was headed

His mind went back to his time in the service

The hand that touched his shoulder was a completely different person's

A local woman looked him in the eyes, hers full of tears

Her son on the other side of his scope, the air full of smoke

For a half second, he choked, reconsidered his mission

Before the thought even finished, the airstrikes touched down

Almost blinded his vision, the only thing that he could see

Was the death of civilians

And when he came back he was at the hospital in casts

They told him he had swerved into the median and crashed

The whip flipped twice, when he asked about his wife

The nurse replied "Sorry sir, only one survived,"

We send our people overseas to be all you can be

Pick up a weapon, get to steppin', don't repeat what you see

While somebody profits off of every bullet machine

We suffer night terrors, cold sweats, and PTSD

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war for the money

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war, war, war

After several weeks, heartbroken, finally released

He went straight to the VA, diagnosed with PTSD

They gave him SSRI's, said he'd be fine, give it time

And they might have dulled his mind, but not the thoughts of suicide

Not the flashbacks, not the guilt or the regret

Didn't bring his wife back, at the funeral he wept

What was left of the kid who was once full of life

But a shell of himself, inside of a world he despised

One day came a call, very unexpected

A brand new study for which he had been selected

It was MDMA assisted therapy done in Portland

He was skeptical but desperate, so the offer was accepted

Several sessions taking the medicine, talking through the pain

Open hearted, it was easier to process

Deep inside his conscious, he finally healed the wounds

He made peace with his grief, and his life could resume

We send our people overseas to be all you can be

Pick up a weapon, get to steppin', don't repeat what you see

While somebody profits off of every bullet machine

We suffer night terrors, cold sweats, and PTSD

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war for the money

They just want the wars for the money

Sending us to war, war, war