Veteran Dad Writes Book On PTSD So He Can Explain It To His Kids

Nov 25, 2019 by apost team

Members of the military are our national heroes, placing themselves in harm’s way for the betterment of our country and the safety of democratic ideals. The unfortunate reality of military life, however, is that soldiers inevitably come home with wounds. While some of these wounds are physical, others are psychological and emotional, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

According to data from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 11 to 20 percent of veterans who fought in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War suffer from PTSD when they return home from their tours of duty. To help families talk about the pain brought on by PTSD, a sergeant in the Army Reserve recently wrote a book to explain the issue in terms that children can understand.

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First Sergeant Seth Kastle knows what it means to sacrifice something for your country. Sergeant Kastle has been serving in the Army Reserve for 16 years, being deployed to Afghanistan, Qatar, and Iraq during the War on Terror. In an interview with Babble, Sergeant Kastle talked about the difficulty he had when he came home from his first two-year tour in 2004.

As he walked the streets of his hometown, Wakeeney, Kansas, Sergeant Kastle felt difficulty reintegrating himself into his normal life. The Army sergeant spent several years wondering why he felt the way he did. While he loved seeing his wife Julia and two daughters, Reagan and Kennedy, again, Sergeant Kastle couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. As mental health services were not readily available then, it took Sergeant Kastle several years to get back to his old self.

Returning home from work one day, Sergeant Kastle wrote out his book on PTSD for children, which he entitled Why Is Dad So Mad? The book follows a family of lions and illustrates Sergeant Kastle’s PTSD as a fire in his chest. When Sergeant Kastle began a Kickstarter to get funds to publish the book, he was able to raise the money in a mere few hours.

Kastle hopes that the story will enable veterans with PTSD to talk about their mental health with their children. When the Sergeant first read it to his children, he was humbled when his oldest daughter told him that she was sorry that he had a fire in his chest. Later on, Kastle teamed up with Julia, a combat veteran herself, to write a follow-up entitled Why Is Mom So Mad?

What do you think of how Sergeant Kastle wrote a children’s book to help veterans talk about PTSD with their families?