Freedom Isn't Free
Chaplain Steve Janke
    483rd SPS, Cam Ranh Bay,
    K-9, 70-71

They say I'm short and homeward bound.
Then why is there no happiness found?
One long year here will soon be ore…
And I'll walk to that Freedom Bird door.
But I can’t relax--no letting down…why?
Because to let down may mean to die.
It's like a dream, can it really be?
 everyone cheers as we fly bye.

But thinking of friends below just makes me sigh.
God be with you, I know your fears…
I didn't know but the next time I see you
will be over twenty years.

The plane gets me home and I kiss the ground.
The family I left is the same one I found.
We embrace and hug and cannot separate
The difference between life and death is only fate.

When I was there I dreamed of home…
Now I am here but how my mind does roam.

When I was young I was taught in school…
That freedom was not free and the golden rule.

I know them both but one came hard.
To learn it I had to leave my own back yard.