Songfacts®:

• American Soldieris a concept album inspired by interviews with veterans of conflicts spanning from World War II to Iraq, conducted by Queensrÿche singer Geoff Tate. The vocalist also interviewed his own father, who served in both Korea and Vietnam. Tate said in the album's press release: "My father was a career military man, but until very recently he never spoke about what he went through. I think that reticence is true of a lot of veterans, which means most people never truly understand what it means to be a soldier at war. Hearing what he and some of our fans have endured made me want to share their stories with the world. This is an album about the soldiers, for the soldiers, as told by the soldiers themselves."
• Tate explained this song on Anybody Listening: "Several of the soldiers I interviewed talked about being injured, being on the edge of death and being brought back. That kind of situation is always interesting to me, hearing what they felt, what they saw, and what happened. Some people see a light and others hear voices, and that is what this song is about, the voice you hear in your head. From what I gather, there's quite a struggle for people at that point. Some people say they're ready to go, and others will kick, scream and claw, clinging to life with all their strength. 'Don't be afraid' is a very powerful phrase that we all grow up with. Our parents constantly tell us, 'Don't be afraid.' I think that if you were lying there badly wounded, the voices you'd hear in your head are your parents', saying 'Don't be afraid.' Or … maybe it's God."
• The "voice" referenced in the title is something heard by the narrating soldier as he lays dying. Rather than picking one particular belief on to what happens after death, Geoff Tate opts to leave the particularities of the soldier's experience ambiguous, leaving the it up to the listener to fill it in with their own beliefs.