Ocean County Veterans: Then & Now

All this month, Townsquare Media's community outreach arm, Townsquare Cares, is celebrating Veterans' Day by honoring our military members and their families. Today, two Ocean County Vietnam veterans tell us what life is like for returning vets... in their era and today.

Larry and Jerry both agree that access to quality medical care is a major issue for today's returning veterans. Larry says a lot has changed since he came home from Vietnam, and not all of it for the better.

"I think the troops coming home are more accepted and people are more grateful to them than they were when we came home, but... the injuries are horrendous," Larry said. "We didn't have that."

Larry says advances in medical care mean more wounded soldiers survive their injuries, but that means the government has a greater responsibility to provide the medical care they need afterward. Fellow vet Jerry says that's not the only problem today's military members face that his generation didn't.

"When we came back, there were jobs available, we had an industry and manufacturing, we could get jobs," Jerry said. "We also took careers and education, we could go and get educated. Kids today, they come back and they don't know what they want to do."

Larry and Jerry spoke to us at Holiday City Carefree during a taping for a television special for and about veterans. That program airs this month on Cablevision Channel 21 in Berkeley Township.

To help Townsquare Cares help our veterans and their families, click here.