It”s a Career
Am
I wanted to help my country
G Em
I wanted to fight for freedom
Am
So I signed up to be a pilot
G Am
because I knew they really need ‘em
Am
I flew low behind enemy lines
G Em
So low they couldn’t see me
Am
I was a hero to my men
G Am
They all wanted to be me
G G C C
below the radar in Vietnam
D7 G
rescuing my men from trouble
G C
touching down on dirt roads
D7 G
in the jungle in the rubble
D C
The recruitment office swore to me
C G
it’s not a job it’s a career
G D C
I’d be alright when I got out
C G
I really had no fear
Am Em
stateside I couldn’t find a job
Dm Am
I wasn’t doing well
Am Em
swamp pilot on my resume
Dm Am
I really couldn’t sell
Am
So I did a little cocaine
Em
I did a little smack
Dm
The jobs that were available
Am
I really couldn’t hack
GG CC
an old Vet friend from New Mexico
D C G
called me late one night
GG CC
said I could make a lot of money
D G
doing just one little flight
GG CC
flying below the radar
DD G
just like we used to do
GG DD
it’s so simple, there’s no enemies
D C G
just cargo me and you
GG
we’ll land in the desert
CC
on a dirt runway
DD G
They’ll give us 10 percent
CC D7 D7
We’ll make so much money
D7 D7 G
we could stock the mint
Am Em
I had a memory of signing up
Am Em
that recruitment guy I could hear
D D D7
Damn if he wasn’t right
C C G
It’s not a job it’s a career !
I had a friend David, I hadn’t seen him for a number of years, and when we finally got together for a couple of drinks I asked him what he was doing with his life. He said that he was on his way to Mexico, he was meeting his friend “Crazy Charlie” and they were going to fly a plane load of Cocaine into the southern Arizona desert. He said he should make enough money to take it easy for a few years. He seemed so proud of himself, like he had one up on me.
I told him that I was really worried about him, that if anything went wrong he could screw up the rest of his life. I basically told him that I really cared about him and tried to talk him out of doing it. By the end of the conversation he was in tears, and this was not at all like him. He told me that I was the first person that cared enough to try to talk him out of something that was obviously pretty self-destructive. No one else had cared enough to try to talk him out of doing it. I’m not sure if I got him to change his mind, but it got me to thinking about how people get themselves into these situations.
Life just seems to lead us from one circumstance to the next, and somehow they fit together into the next logical move. We tend to do what we have done in the past, what we are comfortable with. Some of us are the passengers of life, whatever comes along easily they will do. Then there are people who are the drivers of life, they make plans, set goals, and do what needs to be done to acheive those goals. Drivers don’t usually end up as drug dealers or prostitutes, passengers do.
In Davids case, he didn’t like school all that much, although he was very intelligent, he didn’t want to go into college, so he went into the military to learn a trade. At the time Vietnam was in full swing, and he went overseas, and our Government Military taught him to fly below enemy radar. He learned his trade and he learned it well. Upon returning to the United States he was welcomed as many of the veterans of the Veitnam war were welcomed, not with open arms, but with closed hearts. He was mechanically inclined so he fixed cars for awhile, but that was a lot of work for not much pay. I guess he was always looking for a job in his field, after all he had received extensive training. There are very few jobs for people who are trained to fly below the radar, but David found one, that payed very well! I guess those advertisements are right…”It’s not a job, It’s a career!”