Soldier gets arrested for recording rap song that threatened to kill superiors

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A U.S. Army soldier is in a Georgia jail on charges that he threatened violence against his superiors in a rap song he recorded to denounce the Army’s “stop-loss” policy.

Spc. Marc A. Hall was angry that the military planned to send him back to Iraq past his date to leave the military, so he recorded a rap song blasting the Army. He describes going on a shooting spree, an act that led his commanders to decide that the soldier posed a threat to his unit.
Hall, 34, is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, near Savannah, Georgia. He’s been jailed on charges that he made threats, both in conversation with members of his infantry unit and in the lyrics to his song “Stop Loss.”
In the song, which was recorded under his hip-hop name of Marc Watercus, Hall raps about grabbing a rifle to spray bullets and “watch all the bodies hit the floor.”
They’re saying it’s a threat. We’re saying it’s a fantasy,” said Jim Klimaski, a civilian attorney who has talked to Hall about the case. “He’s mad, but he’s not stupid. He’s not violent.”
Charges were filed against Hall, of South Carolina, on Dec. 17, a week after he was jailed. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said today that commanders were being extra cautious after the recent shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, where an Army psychiatrist was charged with murdering 13 people in November.
“Any threat needs to be taken seriously, no matter what,” Larson said. “Any reasonable person who listens to that song would be concerned.”
Hall, who joined the Army in 2006, is charged with five criminal counts under a military law, Article 134, a catchall for misconduct ranging from adultery to some types of assault.
For more info: Soldier jailed for angry rap song; mp3 of “Stop Loss” song.

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