Rifleman

[Verse 1]
He crawled through the mud
Of a cabbage farm in Germany
Sharpshooter doing grunt work
In the infantry
Kept a bronze star and a marksman's medal
Buried in a dresser drawer
Came back a hero but sometimes I think
We didn't win that war

[Chorus]
They sent him off a boy
Brought him back a wreck
Nightmares, bombshells, shrapnel
Still exploding in his head
Scared is something you won't understand
Till you've wrestled a rifle out of the hands
Of a rifleman

[Verse 2]
He grew up in the country
But never went hunting again
He'd take me out shooting BB guns
At old coffee cans
I'd find his whiskey in the hamper
Under the dirty clothes
Shouldn't own a 30-ought-6
And a hair trigger temper you can't control

[Chorus]
They sent him off a boy
Brought him back a wreck
Nightmares, bombshells, shrapnel
Still exploding in his head
Scared is something you won't understand
Till you've wrestled a rifle out of the hands
Of a rifleman

[Bridge]
One day in a panic
I hid that gun up in the attic
I think he knew that it was there
He never brought it down
Never again waved it around
Maybe he was just as scared

[Chorus]
'Cause they sent him off a boy
Brought him back a wreck
Nightmares, bombshells, shrapnel
Still exploding in his head
Aw, scared is something you won't understand
Till you've wrestled a rifle out of the hands
Till you've wrestled a rifle out of the hands
Of a rifleman