Nineteen

The number on his back voted captain of his high school football team

Took us all the way to state, got a

Scholarship to play down in Tennessee

He could catch, he could throw, he could

Run, he could go like you never seen

Number nineteen

But on the day those twin towers came

Down his whole world turned around

He told 'em all "I can't play ball, there's a war on now"

So he marched right in with a few good men and joined the Marines

At nineteen

He's the boy next door

Might have carried your bags at the grocery store

Now he's somebody's son in a hole with a gun in a foreign land

Trying to hold on to his American dream

At nineteen

There's a sniper out there in the dark somewhere and a soldier down

We need someone who can duck and run and get him out somehow

Won't one good man raise his hand, take one for the team

How 'bout you, nineteen?

He's the boy next door

Might have carried your bags at the grocery store

Now he's somebody's son in a hole with a gun in a foreign land

Trying to hold on to his American dream

At nineteen

They brought him home today with a big parade down Main Street

He got a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, soldier gave a speech

Said "He could catch, he could throw, he

Could run, he's the one that rescued me

Coulda played for Tennessee"

Nineteen

He was number nineteen

He was only nineteen