The intense focus of his startling blue eyes and his articulate manner belie Sgt. Tony Gower's host of medical problems: traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder from an improvised explosive device detonated in July 2005 in Iraq.
Gower pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt Monday to show the wounds it covers: punctures in his upper-arm tattoo and a zipper-like scar that snakes toward his chest.
No stranger to politicians, Gower received his Purple Heart three years ago from none other than President George W. Bush, who was visiting Bethesda (Md.) Naval Hospital.
Gower, 38, of Bethel Park, was invited to take his concerns Monday to Pennsylvania's junior senator, Bob Casey, who convened a roundtable discussion at the refurbished B&O train station on South Main Street in Washington.
Casey said he's convening regional veterans' roundtables to learn what their priorities are, "and what mine should be."
Gower let Casey know he's still learning to cope with the injuries he received July 19, 2005, in Hit, a city in Iraq's Al-Anbar province.
"You look at him now, and he looks normal," said Gower's wife, Dawn.
The wounds may have healed, but Gower said he has not yet been treated for his brain injuries and stress.
Gower said his wife received a book from Bethesda Naval Hospital several months after his PTSD kicked in.
"It was a tremendous help, but why didn't she get it months earlier? We didn't know about PTSD," Gower said. "I was thinking she was the problem, and she's thinking I'm the problem.
"I can go to the VA, but my wife can't go to the VA."
Gower, who joined the Marine Corps in 2000, wondered if he might be able to receive care closer to home rather than fighting traffic back and forth to VA facilities in Pittsburgh.
One of his persistent behaviors is hypervigilance, which is manifested in his checking of his home time after time before leaving, even on a trip to Washington to meet with the senator.
"I was in and out of my car three times to check the house. I check locks, forget my cell phone, make sure doors and windows are locked. What I've learned from over there is make sure you protect yourself, your family and your buddies. My buddies were my family at the time. It's embedded in me now."
"I think every soldier over there comes back with some degree of PTSD," said Dawn Gower. "It's never OK.
"You can give him all the GI benefits you want, but if his mind is not well, what's it for?"
Meeting with Casey were about 20 invited guests in the former rail station that now houses the Washington County Tourism offices.
"Soldiers aren't allowed to go anywhere except the VA system," said Dr. Paul Cervone, who expects to be deployed to Iraq.
"It's only people like you that can change the law and change the accessibility," he told Casey.
Casey said he helped pass legislation to increase funding for veterans' health care, employment programs, homeless veterans and programs to help veterans who are suffering from traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
"Most people get pretty frustrated that veterans' health care hasn't been more of a priority under this administration," Casey said before leaving Washington to discuss the role of speculation in record-high crude oil prices.
"Why did it take Democrats winning the Congress House and Senate to make proposals at least to fully fund veterans' health care? That shouldn't be a Republican or a Democratic issue."