Babylon Attorney Jorge Rosario Named 15th District’s 2025 Veteran Of The Year

BABYLON, NY — Jorge Rosario didn’t walk into Town Hall expecting to be honored as “Veteran of the Year.”

So when he learned Suffolk County Legislator Minority Leader Jason Richberg planned to recognize him as the 15th Legislative District’s 2025 “Veteran of the Year,” Rosario said his first reaction was disbelief — followed quickly by gratitude, and a reminder of how much of his work is rooted in community.

“Just unexpected,” Rosario said to Patch.

The Town of Babylon recently highlighted Rosario’s recognition on social media, along with his years of involvement with the Town of Babylon Veterans’ Advisory Board.

Rosario, a senior assistant town attorney for the Town of Babylon, said he learned about the recognition in the fall after being contacted by Richberg’s office. Rosario, 52, said his public-service resume spans military service, legal work, veteran advocacy, and local government roles.

He has worked in government since joining the Town of Babylon in June 2020 after years with the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County. He credited much of his approach — in leadership and in law — to lessons learned in uniform, and the idea that leadership is inseparable from taking care of others.

“When you work in government, what you’re supposed to do is serve others,” he said. “And within the military, I learned that at a young age, in being a leader, it’s about taking care of the people.”

Rosario grew up in Brooklyn and enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly before graduating from college. He attended SUNY Cortland and described his decision to enlist as part of a long-held desire to serve — one encouraged by his family.

“I always had a sense that I wanted it to be part of the military and to provide service,” he said. “I was always told by my parents that serving in the military is such a high honor.”

Rosario said his early military experience included logistics work before moving into military police, and later transitioning into the JAG Corps.

As he moved into legal work in the military, he said understanding enforcement at the ground level shaped how he advised leadership later.

“When I became a JAG, I understood the role of the military police on the ground level,” he said. “I could advise commanders on how to do things and how to do it legally, properly, and also morally right.”

Rosario remains active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and he described the VFW as both a continuation of camaraderie and a way to keep veterans connected to a “team” after leaving the service.

“Did you ever run a mission by yourself?” Rosario said he asks veterans who hesitate to connect. “Everybody says, ‘No, you don’t do missions by yourself. You always have a team.’ Why would you go through life by yourself?”

He also spoke about the reality that veteran services on Long Island can be strong — but still incomplete, especially for older veterans and those facing homelessness, mental health challenges, or difficulty accessing benefits.

“There’s a lot of good services on Long Island,” Rosario said. “But there are always gaps. There’s always a need.”

Rosario said he has seen veterans struggle to secure benefits years after their service — including what he described as common-sense cases where the connection between service and injury seems obvious. He was diagnosed with PTSD in 2015 after serving in Afghanistan in 2011.

“We’ve had veterans who have worked on aircraft carriers and have hearing loss,” he said. “Nobody can tell me that you’re going to be able to work on an aircraft carrier and not have some kind of hearing loss.”

He tied those challenges to quality-of-life issues that can spiral when veterans can’t access supports — including housing.

“You can’t do much without first having stable housing,” Rosario said.

Asked what municipalities can do, Rosario pointed to affordable housing policies, tax incentives, and set-asides that could specifically help veterans.

“For all municipalities… offering affordable housing,” he said. “If some of them could be set aside, a few units can be set aside for veterans.”

He also emphasized education and scholarships as another form of community investment, including his involvement with the Wyandanch Scholarship Committee.

“When a student sees that there are organizations in the community that care about them, they see there’s a community behind them,” Rosario said.

And for residents who want to support veterans locally, Rosario said the best start is often the simplest: connect with a local post, volunteer through an auxiliary group, or check in on someone who might be isolated.

“Reach out to them, see how they’re doing,” he said. “We like to call it buddy check… check on others.”