Issued a Flag, Came Home to Ash

“They taught me how to fight… not how to come home.”

Boots in the sand, name on my chest

Learned real fast how to bury the rest

Orders screamed through desert nights

Freedom paid in broken lives

I watched kids bleed for a map on a wall

Heard God real clear in a mortar call

They said “you’re heroes, don’t ask why”

So I swallowed rage and learned to comply

Now I’m back in a country I don’t recognize

Same blood on the streets, just different lies

You issued a flag, I came home to ash

Shaking hands with ghosts I couldn’t save

You wave it high, but you never ask

What it costs to keep it that way

I fought your wars, I paid the tax

With a mind that never sleeps

Don’t thank me for my sacrifice

If you won’t look at what you keep

They clap at games, then they look away

When the uniform fades and the checks don’t pay

Medals don’t stop the panic shakes

Or the bottle that helps me stay awake

I hear fireworks, I hit the floor

Still fighting battles from a foreign shore

They scream “support the troops” online

But won’t stand still when I’m losing mine

I bled for colors on a TV screen

Now I’m just another problem you’ve seen

You issued a flag, I came home to ash

Promised the world, delivered pain

You call it honor, I call it cash

Traded our lives for political gain

I’d do it again for the ones beside me

But not for thrones built out of bones

This country taught me how to kill

Then left me dying on my own

This ain’t anti-soldier

This is anti-lie

I’d lay down my life for my brothers

Not for suits who never cried

You don’t hear screams in boardrooms

You don’t smell the burned-out streets

You don’t wake up soaked in guilt

Wondering why you still breathe

WHO DO YOU THANK

WHEN THE WAR COMES HOME

WHO DO YOU BLAME

WHEN WE CAN’T LET GO

WHO PROFITS

WHO PAYS

WHOSE BLOOD

BUYS YOUR DAYS

You issued a flag, I came home to ash

Still love this place, that’s the curse

I hate what it does to the desperate

I hate how it eats us first

If freedom’s real, then prove it now

Not with words, not with praise

Take care of the ones you trained to die

When the war don’t fade

I don’t need your pity

I don’t need your spin

Just don’t forget the cost

When you send us in