One issue that is brought up in “In Country” is how these soldiers never really talk about their experience in Vietnam. Their excuse is that no one understands unless you were there. This issue has been brought up in previous readings like “A Soldiers Home” and “Red Convertible”. “In Country” focuses a lot on Emmet and his struggle to return to normalcy after the war. I think one of the main reasons he is having so much trouble fitting back into society is because he is keeping his emotions to himself, despite Sam’s constant questions about the war. “Your imagination is bad enough as it is. I’m not going to feed it (54), is one response Emmet would use to get out of a question about the war.

The silence that Emmet maintains is a form of post traumatic stress. Since Vietnam ended much research has been conducted to look at post traumatic stress. http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/information/, informs the reader about post traumatic stress and how someone can get treatment for it.