NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Sal Gonzalez has always wanted to be a musician.

"I've been singing since I could talk," he said. "I actually left a band I was playing with. I was the lead singer of a band back in California."

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He left his dreams behind to join the U.S. Marines, trading his guitar for a machine gun and heading to Iraq.

"I got blown up. I got hurt and injured. I ended up losing a leg, got sent home, and now I'm retired from the Marine Corps, “ said Gonzalez.

He lost his leg, but he didn't lose his passion to perform; he just didn't know how to get started.

"This is a guy who paid a real dear price. He gave of his physically body,” said Grammy award-winning artist and founding member of the Mavericks, Robert Reynolds.

Reynolds and producer/arranger Scotty Huff are now putting their minds behind a mission to give back.

"I felt it would be an amazing opportunity to support those men and women that had some dream of singing and producing some music of their own," said Reynolds.

"It occurred to us that it is these brave individuals that have provided us the freedom to travel much of the world in pursuit of our own musical goals," Huff said.

Operation Sound Off! is giving veterans like Gonzalez an opportunity to record their songs for free with some of Nashville’s best musicians. The idea is still new, but Reynolds and his team have helped Gonzalez record his first song over the past month.

"After nearly 20 years of making music myself," said Reynolds. "I know the basic ingredients and I want these men and women to have what I had and nothing less."

For Gonzalez, "I'm really excited about this," he said when thinking his dream of becoming a musician is now more of a reality.

Reynolds is also talking to people about turning the project into some type of television show. He also hopes some of the money made in the future will go to benefit veteran-sponsored programs.

Click here to learn more about Operation Sound Off!