Wicked are the devil’s children
Working in the fields of man
Turn the plowmen into soldiers
Turn the flesh and body to the plan
Who mocks the dream of the creator?
Who put the gun into the hand?
Who pulls the trigger in the battle?
Will we finally understand?
He came all the way from Arkansas
to find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia
To find his Holy War
He said all men will be honored
for the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
Oh Johnny’s gone for a soldier
Yes he’s turned into a fine young man
All dressed in gray and high position
With a calling to a foreign land
He hit the ground he had his mission
they sent him to the village square
There’s no God but Allah here
The killer said as he appeared
He came all the way from Arkansas
To find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia; to find his Holy War
He said, all men will be honored
For the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
She placed the Bible on his body
And they lowered her son into the ground
Jesus wept and God was silent
And his mother shuddered at the sound
The rifles cracked, the flag was folded
And the bugler raised his horn
He played the song that soldiers know
And another boy was gone
He came all the way from Arkansas
to find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia
to find his Holy War
He said, all men will be honored
For the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
Working in the fields of man
Turn the plowmen into soldiers
Turn the flesh and body to the plan
Who mocks the dream of the creator?
Who put the gun into the hand?
Who pulls the trigger in the battle?
Will we finally understand?
He came all the way from Arkansas
to find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia
To find his Holy War
He said all men will be honored
for the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
Oh Johnny’s gone for a soldier
Yes he’s turned into a fine young man
All dressed in gray and high position
With a calling to a foreign land
He hit the ground he had his mission
they sent him to the village square
There’s no God but Allah here
The killer said as he appeared
He came all the way from Arkansas
To find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia; to find his Holy War
He said, all men will be honored
For the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
She placed the Bible on his body
And they lowered her son into the ground
Jesus wept and God was silent
And his mother shuddered at the sound
The rifles cracked, the flag was folded
And the bugler raised his horn
He played the song that soldiers know
And another boy was gone
He came all the way from Arkansas
to find what he was missing
To find his Steel Militia
to find his Holy War
He said, all men will be honored
For the strength of their position
In fife, and steel, and gun forevermore
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Erik Lunde is releasing his song “Steel Militia” on August 27th in the shadow of America’s disquieting exit from Afghanistan, 20 years after the events of 9/11 led to “America’s Longest War.” As a self-described “Tolstoyan Christian Pacifist” who tries to live by the principles of non-violence laid out in the "Sermon On The Mount”, Lunde wrote the lyrics to “Steel Militia'' from his despair over the tragic American military response to 9/11 after reading the devastating true story of the Wise Brothers in the Washington Post, entitled “One Family, Two Sacrifices”.
Steel Militia — Erik Lunde