WüRZBURG, Germany — The 1st Infantry Division bases in Germany are abuzz with the news that the Army snagged the hot rap group G-Unit as the headline act for its May 16 celebration welcoming the troops home from Iraq.

“That’s one of my favorite groups, actually,” said Pfc. Vincent Arakelian, 19, of the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment.

“There’s a lot of young soldiers my age, and that music pertains to them.”

“If they come, I’m sure a lot of people will like it,” said Spc. Ellis Brown, 22, of the 82nd Engineer Battalion, who saw the group perform last year in Iraq. “They’re pretty famous.”

But not all the buzz is positive. Some parents and chaplains complain the sex- and violence-drenched music doesn’t belong at an otherwise family-friendly celebration.

“I object to it on a personal and professional level,” said Rachel Taylor, 27, a former soldier and Army spouse who now works in Würzburg as a family counselor.

“It’s wrong to bring back troops from a violent situation, and then put this kind of violence in front of them.”

“Our taxpayer dollars are funding this,” added A.J. Faryniasz, 49, also a family counselor. “It implicitly means that senior leadership is sanctioning this event.”

G-Unit is a four-man rap group whose members hail from New York and Nashville, Tenn., according to biographies on their Web site (www.g-unitworld.com). Two of them — Young Buck and Lloyd Banks, stage names for David Brown, 24, and Chris Lloyd, 23 — will perform at the free concert at Kitzingen’s Harvey Barracks.

The group’s best-known member, rapper 50 Cent, won’t be appearing.

The singers rap, sometimes movingly, about growing up poor in urban ghettoes. Some soldiers back from Iraq, where they lived with random, violent death, may relate to lyrics like these, from the song “Beg for Mercy”:Bustin’ shots at ya convoy, you don’t want war

No surrender, no retreat, this is Vietnam, boyCheck my war wounds, I done took a couple for the teamOnly [racial epithet] that been on the battlefield know what I mean.

Women do not fare well in G-Unit’s world. They are invariably portrayed as lust objects for the rich, young protagonists of their songs. In one tune, called “Groupie Love,” the rappers explicitly describe sexual encounters with their camp followers.

Four-letter words and a common racial epithet are in almost every song.

“[The homecoming celebration] is going to be a family day, and then there will be something that represents a very dark part of our culture,” said Lt. Col. Frederick Robinson, 53, chaplain for the Kitzingen-based 417th Base Support Battalion.

“When I hear things like this, I wonder if the commander is aware that the command is paying for something that is opposed to Army values.”

Many soldiers, though, say the music represents the tastes and values of a different generation. The CDs of G-Unit and other gangsta rappers are for sale at any base exchange. And “Beg for Mercy” ended 2004 at No. 20 on the Billboard charts of top-selling albums.

“That’s what every soldier listens to, so why shouldn’t they hear it here?” asked Spc. Rachel Walfoort, 21, of the 5-158 Aviation.

“We appreciate that they’re coming here to play for us,” said Spc. Betty McGuire, 32, of the 701st Main Support Battalion, who spent the past year driving a truck all over Iraq. “They kept up our morale when we were downrange.”

Some soldiers see a racial aspect to the argument as well. Country singers, who are popular with whites but less so with blacks, frequently appear without complaint on military bases. Appearances by African-American artists are rarer.

“You never see any hip-hop,” said Arakelian, who is white. “I think it’ll be a good turnout.”

The Installation Management Agency-Europe is footing most of the bill for the celebrations, and its Morale, Welfare and Recreation staff booked the band.

Kim Walz, an IMA-Europe spokeswoman, said she didn’t know how much the group was being paid, and that her command has received no complaints.

G-Unit’s 90-minute show has been moved to 10:30 p.m., after the celebration’s fireworks show, to reduce the chances that children might hear them. Walz said the group will do a show with cleaned-up lyrics and themes, and a parental-guidance warning will precede the performance.

“They’re a hard act to book, and they’re in great demand,” she said. “I don’t think this means we’re endorsing or supporting any type of theme.

“We’re just letting the troops hear what they want.”