Interestingly, the Grand Army of the Republic abbreviated GAR, really did exist. It was a group of veterans that, after the civil war, organized into an orgainzation that came to possess considerable power. It was mainly a Republican group, and many presidents beneifited greatly from the attention. However, it passed from existance with the death of its last member in 1956.

I stumbled across it while reading for school and thought it was quite funny that there was actually something out there named the GAR. Anyway, check out this link for more information.