Orem • A retired U.S. Army sergeant from Utah has written a pair of children’s books to help families cope with the deployment of a parent.
Leslie Zimmerman said she was inspired to write the books after seeing her nieces and nephews struggle when her older sister was deployed, the Daily Herald in Provo reports . Zimmerman said children of deployed parents can suffer depression, anxiety and anger.
Zimmerman is now a mother but didn't have children when she was deployed to Iraq in 2003. She was a combat medic before being honorably discharged after developing post-traumatic stress disorder.