A bakery has opened in Washington DC (US) to help wounded war veterans learn how to run a profitable business.

After eight years of planning, Dog Tag Bakery assists returned soldiers to rejoin the job market by learning small business skills, including how to make a muffin and bake a loaf of bread.

The joint initiative by Jesuit priest Father Rick Curry, Jewish real estate mogul Connie Milstein and Georgetown University, helps veterans with mental or physical disabilities return home from Iraq and Afghanistan conflict zones and begin the next chapter of their lives.

“I never gave up because I knew this was good work,” founder Father Curry said, who himself was born with one arm.

“I was trained as a baker as a very young Jesuit and I thought I could teach teach them how to bake – that was my skill I could pass on.”

Veteran army ranger Sedrick Banks, whose neck was broken in a mortar attack in Iraq, said Dog Tag Bakery was his first major step back into the working mindset.

“Before the program, I didn’t have confidence. I didn’t feel like I had the ability. Now I’m confident in myself,” he told CBS News.

“The world thinks disabled veterans can’t be hired. That’s absolutely absurd and we’re here to prove them wrong.”