[CHRIS]
I was cuttin' up and actin' like a fool
The  day those two recruiters showed up at our school
And  I swore he was lookin' right at me
When he told me I could be all I could be

I was a baby, newly married
With  the baby that she carried
And  I was lost and lookin' for my way
And he asked me if I loved the USA

And  God‚ I hoped they'd take me
Cause he swore they'd make me

Stronger
Than that coward I kept hid
Stronger 
Turn that ninety-eight pound kid
Into a strong man
And by God‚ they did
I wish I'd held my wife a little longer
But it only made me stronger...
It only made me stronger

Now I've marched 'til I was blind through desert sands
Slept in mud‚ with someone's blood upon my hands
Swept through minefields, stayed up fightin' four nights straight
Helped a woman, seen her look at me with hate
Once I saw a young girl dyin'
Father holdin' her and cryin'
He begged me please to help‚ what could I do?
She was dead. And if I'd stayed, I'd be dead too
I've seen things past all knowing
And yet I kept on growing

Stronger
Than I was the day before
Stronger
Like you have to be in war
I know what the future holds in store
And I don't fear it any longer
Hell, it only makes me stronger

Standin' here beside this truck
I know just how to be
All my training's comin' back
So quick and easily
I've never felt more sure!
I've never felt more free!
...It's just ev'ry other part of life
That's bafflin' to me

Stronger
I just tell myself I can
Be stronger
Provider‚ husband, father, man
But somewhere
I lost track of the plan
I don't really have one any longer
All I need to be is...
[ENSEMBLE]
Stronger, stronger, stronger!

[CHRIS]
...Hold down a nine-to-five

[ENSEMBLE]
Stronger, stronger-

[CHRIS]
...More than half alive!
How come
I'm the gone got to survive
When I don't feel like livin' any longer?

[CHRIS & ENSEMBLE]
I don't feel like livin' any longer
I don't feel like livin' any longer!

[CHRIS]
And I really should be...

[ENSEMBLE]
Ooh...

[CHRIS]
Oh, I thought I would be...
[ENSEMBLE]
Ooh...

[CHRIS]
God, I wish I could be...

[ENSEMBLE]
Ooh...

[CHRIS]
If you're not gonna take me
Then oh God, won't you make me
Stronger?