Rep. Dan Gordon: 'My Head is Bloody, But Unbowed' [VIDEO]

"'My head is bloody, but unbowed,'" said Rep. Dan Gordon at a press conference held Wednesday outside bar on Park Avenue. 

The freshman representative was quoting from William Ernest Henley's poem, "Invictis," which Gordon said "gave him strength." 

"'It matters not how strait the gate/How charged with punishments the scroll/I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul,'" he quoted. 

 said the poem "gave him strength" with dealing with post-traumatic stress, which he has treated by "self-medicating with alcohol in the past," he said. Gordon admitted to being an alcoholic, being sober the past three years thanks to the help of a sponsor, counseling and attending Alcoholyics Anonymous meetings. 

He recanted a story from another military veteran, who shared a similar form of treatment, he said. 

"He (the veteran) said it would be a great disservice, Dan, if you were to step down now and take away the hope from our veterans who share our story, that there is light at the end of the tunnel," Gordon said. The representative said his message would resonate with veterans "who have gone through a lot of the same things I have." 

In the featured video, Gordon apologizes to his voters and refers to himself as an "average guy."  

The freshman representative also said he understood the trials of former , also a Portsmouth resident. "I understand the human side of his addiction and what he went through with his problems." 

Rep. Gordon says military record is not open to the pubilc

Among the questions asked by reporters Wednesday was a request to release his military record. Gordon told the reporter to file a Freedom of Information Act, but he would not release the record. 

Gordon served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991. He was honorably medically discharged after apparently being injured eight miles south of Baghdad in 1991.