Walking through the lobby of U.S. Steel Tower, his head swiveling from side to side, Army veteran-turned-security consultant Dennis Lejeck proudly wears the same buzz cut he had when he was 15.

"It's just me," he said, explaining the military look.

At 37, Mr. Lejeck continues to play up his Army lineage as he hustles new business for Bethel Park-based Black Knight Security, the company he formed in 2003. To maintain the look of a solider on patrol, the 6-foot-1 Mr. Lejeck exercises three to four times a week and pops 10 vitamins a day.

In pursuing contracts to secure the 64-story U.S. Steel Tower and several of its largest tenants, the former Bradley tank gunner took as his firm's name the United States Military Academy mascot and selected as his corporate logo the picture of a dark knight brandishing a helmet, mask, cape and sword.

Almost 30 percent of his staff is ex-military. There is "value," he said, "in being a veteran."

Mr. Lejeck belongs to the rank of "vetrepreneur" -- a new term for soldiers who bring the hard-working, disciplined ethos of the military to new ventures in the business world. More and more, such business owners are emphasizing their military roots as a way of garnering work and tapping into a burgeoning movement both nationally and in Pennsylvania to award certain percentages of government and private-sector contracts to veterans.

A bill passed in June by the state Senate, for example, would encourage state agencies to award no less than 5 percent of contracts to businesses owned by military veterans. The legislation awaits approval from the House.

Veterans, as it turns out, are proficient creators of companies -- one in seven owns a business, compared with one in 14 nonveterans, according to the Coraopolis-based National Veteran-Owned Business Association. By that measure, there could be at least 42,000 veteran-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh area (the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania claims there are 300,000 metro-area military veterans, the second highest per-capita concentration in the United States).

"That's a pretty substantial number," said Navy veteran Chris Hale, publisher of the Coraopolis-based Veterans Business Journal, G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse.

It was Mr. Hale and his partner Rich McCormack, another veteran, who came up with the term "vetrepreneur" two years ago as a way to break down stereotypes about ex-military people and bring attention to their business endeavors.

"The word 'entrepreneur' is a sexy term," said Mr. Hale, "a word most people like to associate themselves with. Say the word 'veteran,' they probably think of a guy sitting in an American Legion hall or a guy with a Legion hat on his head walking in the Memorial Day parade. The reality is veterans are all walks of life, all races, all generations."

Earlier this year, the publishing duo launched the National Veteran-Owned Business Association as a way of bringing attention to the buying habits of major American corporations and the opportunities for the nation's 3.6 million veteran-owned businesses. Ex-military entrepreneurs currently receive just 1.3 percent (or $40 billion) of the $2.5 trillion spent annually on third-party corporate contracts, according to estimates from Mr. Hale. The goal is to double that amount to $80 billion.

The origins of the veterans business movement can be traced to California in the late 1980s with a push by Korean War veteran John Lopez to win opportunities for veterans disabled during their service. In 1990, California became the first state to establish goals for veteran-owned businesses in contracts and procurements, asking state agencies to achieve a goal of 3 percent participation by service-disabled veteran business owners. Congress followed in 1999 with a similar 3 percent goal for all federal contracts. Several states followed with similar measures and many other states are currently debating new legislation, including Pennsylvania.

"It really has caught fire," said Mr. Hale, who in April highlighted the veterans-business campaign on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch." "Now there is an advantage to being a veteran-owned business. Our goal is to get more of them out of the woodwork and say 'I am a business owner, I am a veteran.' "

Local veterans are beginning to step up. About 400 have taken entrepreneurship classes at Robert Morris University paid for by the federally funded Veterans Business Outreach Center, which helps veterans find technical assistance, counseling and contracting opportunities. Others are simply touting the virtues of military service in the business world.

One such example is venture capitalist Glen Meakem, one of the co-founders of former online auctioneer FreeMarkets Inc. Mr. Meakem is a Gulf War veteran who made millions at the height of the late 1990s technology boom and talks openly about the lessons he learned from the military, even comparing his employees once to an "elite Marine attack unit."

Former Navy officer Julie Auth credits her time as a pilot and water-survival instructor as the perfect training for what she does now -- delivering fish caught in Alaska to customers in the Pittsburgh area while caring for four children aged three to nine.

"I am new at it, but I think the experience you gain when you are in the military gives you a good background not to be overwhelmed by it all," said Ms. Auth, 36, the owner of The Alaska Wild Salmon Co. Express in Robinson.

Vietnam veteran Evan James, the owner of Scott-based marketing firm James Communications, served in a combat platoon in 1967 and 1968, and his ability to perform under pressure, work with a team and pay attention to detail all can be tied back to lessons learned in the military.

A year ago, he landed a contract with a client who also served in South Vietnam, and that connection "was as important to us in getting that business as all the wonderful marketing things we do. That unspoken bond really assisted us in gaining that client's trust and respect."