JC: By the way, you never told me why you had to quit from Carl Perkins. WS: Carl told me two words that I just couldn't stand, and I had to leave. JC: What were those two words? WS: You're fired.
I'm not a war vet, much less a Vietnam vet, but I suspect Johnny gets as close in the American Recordings version of the song as any non-combat vet can get. (There are alternate versions of this song; the lyrics are inferior and should be skipped.)
I messed one thing up: Johnny Cash was honorably discharged from the Air Force, but he didn't see combat. His name actually came from the Air Force: He was born J. R. Cash, and neither the J nor the R stood for anything else. When he enlisted in the Air Force, the person filling out the paperwork said that the J had to stand for something, and wrote down John (either on his own direction, or because Cash's mother had wanted to call him John, the story has varied).
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