It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier

The heart of every man in our platoon must swell with pride For the nation's youth, the cream of which is marching at his side For the fascinating rules and regulations that we share And the quaint and curious costumes that we're called upon to wear Now, Al joined up to do his part: defending you and me He wants to fight and bleed and kill and die for liberty With the hell of war he's come to grips, policing up the filter tips It makes a fella proud to be a soldier When Pete was only in the seventh grade he stabbed a cop He's real RA material, and he was glad to swap His switch-blade and his old zip-gun for a bayonet and a new M-1 It makes a fella proud to be a soldier After Johnny got through basic training, he Was a soldier through and through when he was done Its effects were so well-rooted that the next day he saluted A good-humor man, an usher, and a nun Now, Fred's an intellectual, brings a book to every meal He likes the deep philosophers, like Norman Vincent Peale He thinks the army's just the thing because he finds it broadening It makes a fella proud to be a soldier Now, Ed flunked out of second grade and never finished school He doesn't know a shelter-half from an entrenching tool But he's going to be a big success, he heads his class at OCS It makes a fella proud to be a soldier Our old mess sergeant's taste buds had been shot off in the war But his savory collations add to our esprit de corps To think of all the marvelous ways they're using plastics nowadays It makes a fella proud to be a soldier Our lieutenant is the up-and-coming type Played with soldiers as a boy, you just can bet It is written in the stars he will get his captain's bars But he hasn't got enough box tops yet Our captain has a handicap to cope with, sad to tell He's from Georgia, and he doesn't speak the language very well He used to be, so rumor has, the dean of men at Alcatraz It makes a fella proud to be What as a kid I vowed to be What luck to be allowed to be a soldier! At ease