G-RAP Investigations Ruin Soldiers’ Lives

When a soldier is charged for participation in the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program lives are instantly ruined and the traditional “innocent until proven guilty” does not apply.

Because soldiers dedicate their lives to serving the nation, a charge, or even worse a conviction inflicts a much higher amount of damage to their career.  The soldiers prosecuted under the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP) are also receiving a higher than normal amount of press for similar civilian crimes.  Everyday, rapist, murderers and thieves never make the news for incredibly heinous crimes.  Yet our nation’s soldiers, the ones who protect our very way of life, are having their names plastered across the news, Department of Justice websites and local media sources as thieves — shattering reputations and even livliehoods for just being charged.  This increased pressure causes an instant deformation of character to the accused and they often lose their jobs, are pulled from school and are shunned from their communities/workplace.

While the deformation causes a few problems the accused soldiers also have a long list of punishment that is inflicted without any due process.  Any of the soldiers who are still in the National Guard face an immediate separation from the National Guard with an other than honorable release.  Because the National Guard facilitates this separation it falls under the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the soldiers are essentially guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent beyond a reasonable doubt.  In many cases the commanders conducting the separation are manipulated by higher levels of command that are most likely being pressured by Congress or other entities of the Department of Defense to show how they are handing the mismanagement of the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program.   In most cases the innocent soldiers are forced out of the National Guard under less than favorable conditions.

However, the punishment doesn’t stop there…  Most of the soldiers also carry a security clearance that is immediately suspended when criminal charges are brought against them.  Because the accused work part-time for the National Guard they typically have full-time jobs, often with the government.  When their security clearance is suspended it also affects their government positions and many of the individuals are forced to stop work until the lengthy legal matters are finalized.  Even those who are working in the civilian sector will lose their jobs or be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of their civilian trials.

Again, the punishment doesn’t stop there…  Regardless of the outcome of the soldiers’ civilian trials they will receive a debarment letter from the U.S. Army that bans them for working for the U.S. government as a contractor for a set period of time.  Individuals whose careers are in the public sector must pay tens of thousands of dollars in order to attempt to appeal the debarment in hopes that the Army will allow them to return to their jobs.  This is of course on top of the legal fees they face in their civilian trials.  More often than not these soldiers are being debarred from contracting and lose their ability to generate an income.

It is important to note that all of this occurs without any due process to the soldier.  The mere accusation that they participated in a criminal manner under the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program means they must spend thousands of dollars, lose their jobs, be kicked out of the National Guard and face a life of shame.  Even those who are able to prove their innocence will never get back the money they spend, the jobs they lost or the reputations they built and the National Guard will do their best to make sure of it.  CID has been tasked with the job of ensuring each soldier is brought to “justice” and they will ensure that happens regardless of whether or not the solider is guilty.

Although top-level Army audits cite mismanagement at the top as the primary reason for G-RAP’s failures, the contractor (Docupak) continues to do business with the government; commanders who implemented the G-RAP program and even high-ranking officers who participated in the program will receive promotions. Congress will praise commanders for how they “ferreted out fraud.” Those actually responsible are not being held accountable for their actions. Instead, these facilitators will slip quietly into retirement while the innocent soldiers who are prosecuted for their participation in the program will continue a life of shame and debt.  These soldiers will forever be marked as criminals and their past and service to the National Guard will always haunt them.