Initially, POGR was made up of soldiers who had become unfit for operational service, and was intended to act as a ceremonial unit.

[1] However, following attempts on his life, Nkrumah ordered that the POGR be expanded and reinforced, renaming it as the President's Own Guard Regiment (POGR), and bringing it under the direct control of the Presidential Detail Department.

[1] By February 1966, the POGR consisted of two battalions and almost 1,200 officers and men, trained by Soviet advisers.

[1] Because of the POGR's status (it was better trained, equipped, paid and clothed than the regular Ghana army), significant resentment was directed at its military personnel, which led to violence directed against it by the Ghana Army (GA) during the coup that overthrew Kwame Nkrumah.

The POGR's primary function remains as a bodyguard to the President of Ghana and to defend the Presidential Palace in Accra.