Mark Major once led a team of soldiers in combat in Iraq. Now he leads a team of railroad employees. The difference? he’s not getting shot at anymore.

As thousands of American soldiers return to the civilian workforce after service in Iraq or Afghanistan, many are finding jobs on the nation’s rail lines. More than 25 percent of all U.S. railroad workers have served in the military.

There is a long history of veterans and railroad work. Civil War veterans, helped complete the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. But railroad opportunities are especially welcome now because the unemployment rate for recent veterans remains higher than for the rest of the nation.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate for veterans who have served since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks improved last year but still registered 9.9 percent, compared with the 7.9 percent rate for nonveterans. The jobless rate for veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 was even worse — 20.4 percent in 2012.

The White House launched a campaign called Joining Forces to encourage businesses to hire veterans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce led a similar effort called Hiring Our Heroes.

Partly as a result of those efforts, businesses have hired more than 125,000 veterans or military spouses and pledged to hire or train another 250,000 more by the end of 2014. But there are up to 800,000 unemployed veterans, and thousands more are constantly leaving the military as combat operations wind down in Afghanistan.

Certain railroad jobs are almost perfect fits for certain military jobs. For instance, someone who was an air traffic controller can become a train dispatcher rather easily. And mechanics who maintained diesel equipment in the military can use those skills to take care of locomotives. Skilled trades such as plumbing and electric work are all needed in the railroads.

Even veterans who don’t have special skills are still a good fit because railroads are willing to train them to be conductors or to do other jobs.

Railroads pursue veterans by attending dozens of job fairs every year, emplying recruiters who are veterans and offering classes for veterans to help them apply for civilian jobs.