If you served in the U.S. military during the Global War on Terrorism, chances are high that there are a handful of battle songs you associate with your service. Whether you went on patrol to Drowning Pool’s “Bodies,” directed air operations to Outkast’s “Bombs over Baghdad” or gave in to a moment of homesickness to John Michael Montgomery’s “Letters from Home,” everyone who served in the U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq (and well beyond) likely has a particular song that immediately conjures up memories of their time in the ranks. Sure, they may not be as iconic as “War” by Edwin Starr or “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, but they belong to the post-9/11 generation of American service members, and they are legendary in their own right.

So what battle songs in particular defined service in the U.S. military during the Global War on Terrorism? We asked service members and veterans to share their favorite tracks with us, and they did not disappoint. Here are some of the standouts:

“Bodies” by Drowning Pool

If you know, you know. “Bodies” by Drowning Pool, originally pulled from radio play following the Sept. 11 terror attacks over concerns over the lyrics, is considered the moto pump-up song for a significant number of Military.com readers who deployed in the early years of the Global War on Terrorism. While it’s worth noting that repeated renditions of the song were used as a form of interrogation on detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2003, the members of the band, well, didn’t really care that much about that.

“People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that, played over and over, it can psychologically break someone down,” bassist Stevie Benton told Spin magazine in 2006. “I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that.”

“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” by Toby Keith

Toby Keith’s beloved post-9/11 ass-kicking anthem was never supposed to make it to airwaves. While the late country star only ever intended to perform “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” at USO shows and military performances, then-Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones told him that the track was “the most amazing battle song I’ve ever heard in my life” and convinced him to release it as a single. The rest, as they say, is history. 

“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” “was a rallying call” after the 9/11 attacks, as one Military.com reader wrote; as another put it, the song “captured that moment of greatest outrage, when motives were pure and we had the high ground.” That particular feeling may not have lasted as the Global War on Terrorism drew on, but even today, as one reader wrote, the song still evokes “powerful emotions” from the early days of the conflict.

“When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down

“When I’m Gone” was released in 2002, just as the United States began to fully commit to rebuilding Afghanistan following the initial ouster of the Taliban. Although the song has nothing to do with the U.S. military (it’s about the band being on the road while on tour), the lyrics make it easy to see why troops identify with it. The song “captured the essence of the deployment experience in terms of the fears, loneliness, bonds, and hope,” wrote one Navy vet.

3 Doors Down recognized the relationship after “When I’m Gone” was released. The official music video, filmed live aboard the USS George Washington in 2002, features clips of the U.S. military and is “dedicated to all the men and women serving our country.”

“Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence

People tend to forget that early deployments in the Global War on Terrorism were not unlike deploying in the 1990s. We still had to wait in line to use the internet, we still used personal DVD players for TV and movies, and the iPod was still in its infancy. Without streaming, we were all still pretty much listening to the same hit songs, and in 2003, you could not escape Evanescence’s debut single, “Bring Me to Life.”

“Evanescence songs hit a nerve for me as the deployments wore on,” wrote one Marine. “I still cannot help getting emotional when I hear these songs today.”

The song was released when units were deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan and reserve units were mobilized to support combat operations throughout the conflict. American Forces Network (AFN) radio and television channels were playing it just as much as any other network.

“Being a reservist, we had to pull our unit out of a depot packing configuration to a deployable one,” an Army veteran said. “In other words, we had to bring the unit to life. This song played constantly throughout the mobilization phase.”

“America, F*** Yeah” by DVDA

It’s hard to explain “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s 2004 film “Team America: World Police.” It’s a hard-rocking, tongue-in-cheek, Toby Keith-like anthem that can be interpreted along any ideological line. If you were a Republican, it was hilariously supporting all things America; if you were a Democrat, it was an ironic dig at America’s post-9/11 values. In truth, it was neither: As Parker explained in 2005, it was simply a reaction to what it was like to be an American since the Sept. 11 attacks.

“America has this role in the world as a dick. Cops are dicks, you f**king hate cops, but you need ’em …” Parker told Salon. “Because there are a**holes — terrorists — you gotta have dicks — people who hunt down terrorists. And I think that that is a pretty strong thing to assert, actually.”

And the “dicks” hunting down the terrorists loved the new, hilarious battle hymn provided by Parker and Stone, even if they were openly fighting for “porno,” “Starbucks” and “Taco Bell.”

“God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood

Lee Greenwood’s 1984 patriotic anthem has been around for so long, people tend to think it’s as old as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But whether you think it’s smarmy red meat for would-be patriots or not, it endures because it still gives men and women in uniform the red, white and blue tinglies. I will swear to whatever God you believe in that U.S. troops in basic training during the Global War on Terrorism used to stand at attention for this song.

“‘God Bless The USA’ gives me so much comfort and yet brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear it,” wrote one veteran and first responder who was at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001. Others said “it captured my beliefs perfectly,” and that it “defined the heart of America.”

(And it wasn’t just the Global War on Terrorism, either. One Army veteran said it became “[a] symbol for all of us deployed to Desert Shield/Desert Storm.”)

“Thunderstruck” by AC/DC

There is nothing complicated about AC/DC songs, and that’s what is so great about them. “Thunderstruck” starts with an iconic guitar riff that builds up to a driving, thunderous beat and is enough to get anyone pumped, even if they don’t speak a lick of English. Only the second verse gives the listener any idea of what the song is about (spoiler alert: sex with strippers) while the rest of it can be applied to anything they might be doing at the time, from buffing the floors to fighting the Iraq War. It’s no wonder it became a perennial favorite.

“It was hard and fast just like the U.S. military branches as we invaded Iraq,” said one veteran. “Shock and awe baby!”

“War Pigs” by Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath’s 1970 classic is also an anti-Vietnam War protest song, but the feeling that “generals gathered in the masses/just like witches at black masses” resonated with service members fighting the Global War on Terrorism as well. One Air Force veteran said it was a reminder of “the unnecessary chaos led by those back in D.C.,” while one Army veteran said the song “opened my eyes to the horrors of war.”

“Just listen to the lyrics!” said another Army veteran.

“We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” by The Animals

“We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” was first released in 1965 and was immediately popular with American troops in Vietnam, so far that it was one of the most requested songs on Armed Forces Radio, according to Adrian Cronauer of “Good Morning, Vietnam” fame. The song not only still resonates with Vietnam veterans, but appears to have transcended generations.

“We all felt that way,” one post-9/11 Marine wrote, while one Air Force veteran said it applied because his unit was deployed continuously for 18 years. The enduring popularity of The Animals’ hit just proves that a song doesn’t need heavy drums or a driving beat to go to war.

“Letters from Home” by John Michael Montgomery

In the earliest days of the Global War on Terrorism, mobile phones were still iffy when traveling internationally, and email was something you could only do at work or at the base comms center (if they had one). Good ol’ snail-mail letters were still the primary way to keep your family and loved ones up to date on what was going on in your life while deployed. They were also the only way your family could initiate contact with you.

So when country singer John Michael Montgomery released “Letters from Home” in 2004, it became … well, a love letter to the deployed life. The music video even features American troops and the artist singing for them.

“All of us that have served overseas know the importance of mail call to our mind set during our time deployed,” one Navy veteran said. “When I would go out on patrol, I carried the last letter from home in a pocket and I would read it while out on patrol, until I got the next one.”

“My Dad wrote me a letter every week while I was deployed both times,” wrote one Army veteran. “The last one, the last one he wrote, he told me he was proud of me. He past [sic] away 19 days later.”

“Bombs over Baghdad” by Outkast

The reason “Bombs Over Baghdad” (or simply “B.O.B.”) made this list should be obvious. But it was actually released in 2000, well before the Iraq War. At the time, the only U.S. operations were conducted by Operation Southern Watch, which simply enforced “No Fly Zones” inside Iraq. Outkast (which are actually anti-war) said it was partly a commentary on the United States’ continued bombing inside Iraq and partly the group’s view of the state of rap music at the end of the 1990s.

Whatever they intended didn’t matter, because American troops rode the song into battle, regardless of its intended meaning.

“We played it before and during Direct Air Support Center-Airborne missions … over Baghdad” wrote one Marine Corps vet.

“As a Tomahawk weapons technician, it was literally the thing we trained for and eventually executed,” said a Navy veteran.

“Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepson’s addictively catchy pop anthem came out in 2012, but it’s apparently a popular choice among service members who served in the back half of the Global War on Terrorism. “I have literally returned fire with ‘Call Me Maybe’ on,” one Army veteran who served in Afghanistan said.

Yeah, that’s because it’s an absolute banger.

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