AUGUSTA, Ga. - It's a program for those who fought for our nation's future to help preserve our past. The first-of-its kind program is putting Augusta veterans to work.

"A lot of us are highly functional, but can't work," said Stacey Moss.

He says it's been hard to find work he can do, ever since he was injured in Operation Desert Storm.

"A 50 caliber machine gun spun around," he described. "It gave me a lot of head trauma."

Archaeologist Sonny Trimble says he was looking for a way to help the soldiers who defended him on a dig in Iraq. That's when he thought of the piles of artifacts left over from Army Corps of Engineers projects.

"You probably have 20 years of work cataloging the objects, he said. "You have lots of people who need work skills."

Now, Trimble's about a month out from putting the vets to work, curating the archaeological collections.

Moss says it's a match that makes perfect sense.

"It's American History, it's history wars came from too," he said.

Trimble says, at first, the program will employ 10 to 20 Augusta vets..

It's also launching in St. Louis and Washington, DC.

He says if it's successful, he plans to quickly expand it nationwide.

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