CSRA leaders aim to help thousands of veterans transition to civ - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

They face life and death on the battlefield every day, but when they leave the war zone for home they face a different set of challenges. 

"They come back home to a community that they left maybe three to six years ago that's much different than when they left. So they may not know where they're going for education, where they're going for jobs," said Executive Director for The Augusta Warrior Project Jim Lorraine.

Larry Millstead is one of 66,000 veterans in the CSRA.

"I have been serving going on 12 years now with the South Carolina Army National Guard, I have deployed once," Millstead, said.

He's making the transition back to civilian life in Aiken. 

"The support is tremendous; the community as a whole, when you look at Aiken and Augusta especially just seem to have a support for the military overall," said Millstead.

Millstead and thousands of others veterans have received help with the transition from the Augusta Warrior Project.

"Since January this year we've helped 1,233 veterans with various transitional issues," Lorraine, said.

Lorraine heads up the Augusta Warrior Project where they focus on our veterans biggest concerns.

"It's housing, education, employment access to benefits and access to healthcare," explained Lorraine.

As leaders in the CSRA brainstorm ways to continue to provide care to our troops, the rest of the country is watching.

"This is about helping veterans here and establishing models to build on locally that can help veterans nationally," said Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver.

Lorraine estimates there are several thousand more veterans who need help in the CSRA, and with some help from the community, he aims to make sure they're taken care of here at home.

For more information about the Augusta Warrior Project, visit: http://www.augustawarriorproject.org/