Jason Kander has been in Missouri politics for years, as the Secretary of State, a nominee for U.S. Senate and Kansas City mayoral candidate -- and before that, he was a member of the National Guard.
Kander recently came out with his second book, titled "Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD." He sat down with KMOX's Carol Daniel to talk about his book, his experiences in the army, and what's coming up next for him.
"This book for me was the book that I wrote, because I felt like this was the book I needed 14 years ago when I came home from Afghanistan," Kander said.
He said he hopes other veterans can learn what he came to understand many years after leaving the army -- that it's possible to heal from PTSD.
"It's a book about confronting post-traumatic stress and making your way to post-traumatic growth," he said. "I, like a lot of veterans -- and not just veterans -- like a lot of people who've had trauma in their lives, didn't really understand that it is a thing that if you treat, you can get better, cure it."
He said it's like any other injury -- you can get to a point where you can manage it. And that's where Kander is now -- at the post-traumatic growth stage.
"October 2, 2018, is when I announced that I was gonna go get help. And then I went to weekly therapy at the VA for about six months," he said. "And now, I still go back here and there for sort of like a tune-up, or just to check in. But for the most part, my life is right where I want it to be."
Listen to more from Kander about his book:
KMOX also asked Kander a question he said he recieves a lot: Does he have a presidential run in store?
"Well, I'm not going to do it right now. And I may never do it," he said. "You know, I guess what I should say is people should read the book, because when you get to the epilogue, I'll give a nice long answer about how I feel."
Listen to the rest of Jason Kander's interview: