The Second Battalion of the Republic Medical Corps, more commonly known as the Protectors, was a humanitarian division that served alongside the Republic Military on battlefields across the galaxy, conducting rescue, reconnaissance, and evacuation operations to help civilians who were caught in the crossfire. Nicknamed the Protectors by a group of Corellian orphans during the Battle of Corellia in the Galactic War between the Republic and the Sith Empire, the Second Battalion was later deployed on the disaster-stricken planet of Makeb, where they worked to evacuate Makeb's civilians in the face of the world's impending destruction. The Protectors were primarily non-combat, with their ranks staffed by civilians and ex-military volunteers, and they strove to avoid violence and save as many as lives as possible, regardless of whether they were enemies or not.