The Army National Guard (ARNG), seeking new recruits in 2005, began the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP). Soldiers were requested by their commanders to serve as personal ambassadors for the ARNG, in an effort to bolster lagging enlistments while our country was involved in two wars. Approximately 106,000 of these soldiers became active Recruiting Assistants (RAs) in their off time, bringing close to 150,000 new enlistees into the program. By all measures this was a uniquely successful program.

A private company administered G-RAP. Docupak, an advertising specialties company in Alabama, was awarded $350 million by the government to promote, manage, administer, and monitor G-RAP.  Docupak in turn, hired the off-duty soldiers as private contractors, calling them Recruiting Assistants. Docupak offered a monetary recruitment incentive: For every soldier enlisted, Recruiting Assistants were paid up to $2,000 (up to $7500 for an officer).

Although the program was deemed a recruiting success, G-RAP’s contracting and administrative issues became the subject of a widespread, decades-long investigation. But instead of examining the program’s operational flaws, the people who had done only what they were commanded to do became the targets of the criminal investigation.

This massive investigation revealed significant flaws in how Military Law Enforcement Organizations are allowed to operate, with a complete lack of oversight from an independent entity. The far-reaching implications of that investigation are what created Defend Our Protectors.

The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) exceeded its authority and jurisdiction; and blurred the lines between military justice and civilian law. Servicemembers and veterans were left without recourse as their constitutional rights were trampled, their lives and careers destroyed. The CID investigation into the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program is an example of this, but the problem is systemic.

“This domestic attack on the Army National Guard must stop. The Army must own up to their embellished Congressional testimony and set the record straight. The Army, and especially the CID Command, owe it to each and every Guard member whose life has been terrorized and ruined to make them whole again, whatever it takes—do the right thing. And it needs to happen now.”