O'Brien's "If I Die in a Combat Zone", Hasford's "The Short-Timers", Moore's "The Green Berets", and O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato": Parallels The introductory readings, Obrien's If I die in a Combat Zone, Hasford's The Short-Timers, Moore's The Green Berets, and Obrien's Going After Cacciato, all share a common element - fear. An integral part of each story is a sense of fear that helps to intensify the experiences being related by the author; ie make the stories more realistic. Without the use of fear, these stories would lose much of the ....