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“This guy was a warrior,� Petersen says. “A real badass. He saved us so many times.�

Peterson was in Iraq in 2004, at Abu Ghraib, the infamous prisoner-of-war site. On his first day on the ground, his unit was under attack.

“Body parts were everywhere,� he told me two years ago when we met and . Petersen was working toward a master’s degree in social work at Washington University. Now he works for the in St. Louis, helping veterans overcome barriers to employment.

Most of the veterans he helps have post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as Petersen did after he returned from his Marine deployment and later work as a civilian security contractor in Iraq from 2008 to 2013.

Petersen’s fellow Marine was calling from Salt Lake City. He wanted to kill himself.

Peterson told the man to do exactly what he did a couple of years ago: Go to the VA’s PTSD clinic. Tell them you need help. Commit to treatment.

“The main reason I’m not one of the 22 a day is because my wife made me go to the PTSD clinic,� he says.

That’s where Jason Kander is headed.

A rising star in American politics, Kander, a Democrat, pulled out of the Kansas City mayoral race on Tuesday with a .

“I’m done hiding this from myself and from the world. When I wrote in my book that I was lucky to not have PTSD, I was just trying to convince myself. And I wasn’t sharing the full picture. I still have nightmares. I am depressed,� Kander wrote on his campaign website in a letter that went viral nearly immediately. “I thought if I focused exclusively on service to my neighbors in my hometown, that I could fill the hole inside of me. But it’s just getting worse. So after 11 years of trying to outrun depression and PTSD symptoms, I have finally concluded that it’s faster than me. That I have to stop running, turn around, and confront it.�

Petersen saw the note on Facebook, where he is friends with Stephen Webber, the chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party. Webber and Petersen served together in Iraq.

While much of the nation, and Kander’s friends and colleagues, were expressing shock at the former Missouri secretary of state’s deeply personal confession, Petersen felt a different emotion.

“I loved it,� he says. “I love the fact that he went public. There’s so many guys out there who share the identical feelings. That’s how I felt for years.�

Kander says he denied having PTSD in part because he said he hadn’t done enough to “earn� it. That’s a common soldier mentality, Petersen said. Soldiers think about their colleagues — like his friend who called this week talking about suicide — and they don’t want to compare themselves to somebody who, perhaps, experienced more violence and mayhem during deployment than they did.

“So many men and women who served our country did so much more than me and were in so much more danger than I was on my four-month tour. I can’t have PTSD, I told myself, because I didn’t earn it,� Kander wrote.

On Tuesday, the same day Kander, founder of the voting-rights nonprofit group told the world about his depression, about his suicidal thoughts, Petersen called his friend in Salt Lake City. He followed Petersen’s advice. He checked in with the VA. He is seeking treatment.

Petersen hopes treatment will prevent his friend, and Kander, from joining the in this country who kill themselves, often after failing to ask for help.

For Petersen, his PTSD manifested itself in little ways: startling at the sound of a garbage truck banging around in the morning, the boom of fireworks. Fits of anger came and went. The treatment doesn’t make the problems go away. There is no cure for PTSD. But talking about it, facing it, and learning to cope allowed Petersen to transition from the battlefield to the classroom. Now he’s trying to help others do the same.

Kander’s note, already shared thousands of times on social media sites as of Tuesday afternoon, will put his political life on hold. It might even limit his national ambitions. That’s what happened to a similar up-and-comer from Missouri, U.S. Sen. Tom Eagleton, after revelation of his own battles with depression in 1972.

Whatever happens to him politically, Kander has already proved his commitment to public service by urging other veterans with PTSD to seek help. The VA Crisis Line is 1-800-273-8255.

“It’s awesome that he shared this publicly,� Petersen says. “He’s going to help so many other people.�