I heard this acoustic version aon a radio sshow in Denver...1999 or so..Mike plays a 
nice boom-chuck" fast strum a la The Man In Black...I play it "G-C-D-Em" but it can be 
played in the Key of E as well...


Capo 1st Fret (or not)

Verse 1

 G        C          G
I'm young and I'm strong

G              D              C           G
I've got this God forsaken world by the balls

 G          D         C          G
I've got a one way ticket to freedom

G                  D                  G
Ain't no one now, gonna take it from me


Verse 2

I was a soldier, age twenty-one
In a war, not sure what I was fighting for
And yet I turned from a boy to a man there
Goodbye to innocence and a sweet sixteen


Chorus:

(Walk to Em from G )

Em         C       G          D
My whole life I could not arrange

Em         C       G          D
My wicked ways I could never change

G                 Em      D         G
Don't try, don't try now to understand

 G                      D           G
For this is the ballad of a lonely man


Verse 3

Close to me is a photograph
Of a family left far, far behind
Once I had A love, it slipped away from
I searched a lifetime, but could not find

Chorus

Bridge: Walkdown to 
Em - C - G - D - Em - C - G - D (You're basically playing the chorus without singing

Final Verse

In a hospital bed, I'm violently ill,
Just one more drink nurse I swear to god.
I've got my St. Anthony and my whiskey,
Yes I'm a veteran of three foreign wars.