Derapet chords by Fred Smith

Dm                                         C
You're looking hungry cobber, here plant your arse down mate


          Am                                   G
would you like some mashed potatoes with that burger on your plate?


       F                                  C
it's been another long shift here at the Cooper Pedy mess


Bb                                  Dm
but if you've got a minute I’ve got something on my chest

Dm                  C
The 24th of August back in 20 10


        Am                                     G
I was working out of Tarin Kowt with a squad of 20 men


F                                       C
the Dutch had pulled the pin leaving Uruzgan for good


Bb                                    Dm
it fell to us to fill the void to the west in Deh Rawud


Dm                              C
It had been a lethal summer starting back in June


                Am                              G
We’d lost Smithy, Snowy, Palmer, Aplin, Chucky and then Bewes


F                                       C
August took down Jason Brown then Kirbs and Thomas Dale


        Bb                              Dm
On the morning of their service, we set out on Route Whale



Dm                              C
I was carrying the Maximi a thumping belt fed gun


          Am                               G
With an action like a jackhammer, the weapon weighed a tonne


        F                               C
We drove south of the Tangi to an RV where we met


             Bb                                    Dm
with two brick of boys from Anur Joy and we turned for Derapet


Dm                              C
Lance Jack McKinney - the boys all called him ‘Crash’


                Am                              G
he was the fastest bastard we all knew for distance or for dash


      F                                 C
a soldier's bloody soldier and the fittest man I’ve met


Bb                                      Dm
I was proud to walk beside him on approach to Derapet


Dm                                   C
60 clicks out in the sticks to the west of Tarin Kowt


        Am                                      G
the sappers saw the FAMS move in and the women all clear out


    F                           C
a TIC was what we wanted, a TIC was what we’d get



        Bb                                           Dm
it was only a matter of when and where in the fields of Derapet


Dm                                      C
Me and Crash were partnered in reserve back at the rear


Am                                            G
although we weren't at point that day I felt and smelt the fear


        F                                       C
The boys kept probing forward through the aqueduct and sluice


       Bb                                       Dm
Till from a nearby tree line I could see all hell break loose


Dm                                      C
They’d had hit a complex ambush of about a 100 men


        Am                      G
the chattering of AKs and the thud of PKMs


        F                                            C
the rounds were whistling around em but we couldn't tell where from


              Bb                                        Dm
Cause the Talibs had concealment from the tree line and the corn


Dm                              C
A call came on the ICOM to come forward from the back


        Am                              G
they needed my machine gun at the front of the attack


       F                                        C
so me and Crash we hoofed it as the rounds around us cracked


Bb                                      Dm
running with that weapon and my armour and my pack


Dm                                  C
We’d come 600m through the muddy aquaduct


        Am                                  G
by the time we reached the front line, frankly I was fucked


        F                               C
my mind said just said keep going but my body just said nope


        Bb                                           Dm
and I collapsed back on my pack at the bottom of the slope


Dm                                  C
Crash grabbed my Maximi and hauled it up to the crest


        Am                                      G
that's why he was where he was when the round burst through his chest



     F                                C
I looked up in that instant and I never will forget


        Bb                                              Dm
As he spun around and crashed facedown in the dust of Derapet


Dm                                      C
Wooly called for dust off we were too far from the cars


        Am                                      G
We worked on Crash for an hour taking turns on CPR


        F                                       C
the chopper came and medevac’d him back in to TK



                Bb                      Dm
Where the Doctor at the Role 2 declared him DOA


Dm                                              C
Meanwhile, Keighran broke cover dancing dangerous and strange


       Am                                               G
A hundred Talib muzzles flashed untill the Aslav's found their range


                    F                           C
Between those Guncars the Apache and the M777


        Bb                                      Dm
Many Talibs became martyrs with their virgins up in heaven



Dm                                      C
the battle soon was over they had lost their will fight


        Am                              G
they left their dead and dying they’d pick em up that night


        F                               G
we walked back to the Aslavs and crawled into the FOB


        Bb                              Dm
I remember sitting quietly with Langer, Sean and Rob



Dm                                      C
Fanners ran the section through an after action brief


     Am                                 G
I tuned in though exhausted I was numb with shame and grief


        F                               C
The BDA said by the way there’s 30 of them dead


          Bb                                    Dm
and so they say we won the day and the Battle of Derapet.


Dm C
Am G
F C
Bb Dm


Dm                             C
Beckie’s waters broke at the crematorium


Am                              G
Just a few hours later, she gave birth to their son


        F                               C
the boys help out with mowing and she got some compo cash


        Bb                                 Dm
Helps pay the bills but it wont fill the hole where once was Crash


Dm                                     C
Langers won selection, Daniel Keighran got a gong


Am                                  G
Abbott won the election, and Fred Smith got his song


F                                     C
those who get their accolades deserve all they get



        Bb                                     Dm
but Crash did not deserve to die at the Battle of Derapet



Dm                                      C
I came back to Brisbane and got out on civvie street


            Am                                  G
Now I’m working in this mine, mate, in this mess we're miners eat


     F                                   C
I married now with children to a woman named regret


        Bb                                         Dm
the price you pay for a summers day in the fields of Derapet