Lyrics

I looked at Kathy and Kathy looked at me
I was going in the army, she was going on nineteen
I had a little college and then I said I call it quits
She said she was pregnant when I went in to enlist

I thought about my buddies, I thought about my life
Bringing up a baby maybe taking on a wife
I thought about the desert, would I live or would I die
Would I ever get to see my newborn surprise?

Twenty-some months later I’m rumbling down the road
With one eye to the sky and on my back a heavy load
Looking for them people hiding up there in the caves
Are they gonna shoot me, are they waiting to be saved?

Then I heard a whistle, then a shot of light
Light them fireworks we’d steal each Fourth of July
Nothing could have scared me like that rocket did tonight 
Nothing except the news of my newborn surprise

Somewhere back home there’s another waiting to deploy
He’s thinking about his girl and his little baby boy
I hope they’re taken care of if he don’t make it back
If he winds up like me in an RPG attack

I better get to praying ‘cause now I’m feeling cold
I got a lot to say though I’m twenty-one years old
But I’m just gonna lie here now and softly close my eyes
Think about me holding my newborn surprise