American Soldier was co-written and recorded by country music artist Toby Keith. He wrote the song with Chuck Cannon.
Keith said the song was written “for all the times that I get to meet the troops on these USO tours, and since Courtesy of Red, White, and Blue, the P.O.W.s and the families that have come and brought me back my old CD covers and stuff that they had and shown how much support they had (for me), this is my support for the American fighting men and women.”
The song is about an American in the Army Reserves. In the music video, as he prepares for deployment various clips of soldiers are show from different wars throughout U.S. history. After saying goodbye to his wife and children, he boards a cargo plane, ready to serve his country.
The music video was filmed at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California and released on December 13, 2003.
The song was released in November 2003 on Keith’s second album Shock’n Y’all. The song was #1 on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs chart for four weeks.
The song has over one million digital sales.