Specialist Marc Hall, aka hip hop artist Marc Watercus, was looking forward to the end of his U.S. Army service in February and never going back to Iraq, when commanders decided to “stop-loss” him—the policy that allows military officials to keep soldiers longer than their service contracts state. Frustrated by the Army’s decision, Hall recorded—and mailed to his superiors—a song protesting the stop-loss policy, which has forced thousands of troops to serve extra time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army threw Hall in jail on December 11, 2009, in Liberty County Jail, Georgia. He is charged under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which covers “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline” and “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.”

Army officials considered the song a warning sign and threat. In the song Hall raps:

Like Obama says somebody be held responsible

But some of you all gonna be held in the hospitals, whenever possible…

I’m gonna round up all eventually, easily, walk right up peacefully

And surprise them all

Yes, yes y’all, up against the wall, turn around

I got a motherfuckin’ magazine with 30 rounds, on a three round burst

Ready to fire down … spray and watch the bodies all hit the floor

I bet you don’t stop-loss nobody no more, in your next lifetime of course…

Hall’s civilian lawyer claims that the lyrics to the song should not be taken literally. Hall’s court-martial trial is expected to take place sometime in the coming months.

-Noel Brinkerhoff