CHICAGO - Illinois transportation officials need snowplow operators, highway maintenance workers and accident responders, and they want veterans to fill the posts.

Returning soldiers will enjoy working for the government again, said former congressional candidate and Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, the new director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs.

"Show the kind of leadership skills that you showed in Iraq, that you showed in Afghanistan, when you were out there driving on those roads," Duckworth said last week. "This is exactly the kind of job that is available for you."

Fifty highway maintenance positions and 25 jobs as "Minutemen" - tow truck drivers who help stranded motorists and clear accident scenes - are open, said Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Tim Martin.

The starting salary for each of the union jobs is about $45,000, with medical benefits and retirement packages, Martin said.

"They (veterans) have worked hard, they have risked their lives," Martin said. "We want to provide them with some good, well-paying jobs with good benefits and a good retirement plan."

Four years ago, LeBaron Williams was discharged from the Army and was unemployed. He works as a highway maintainer along the Dan Ryan Expressway.

"The best thing that ever happened to me was coming across this job," Williams said. "A job like this, the kind of money and the benefits, it is unbelievable."