Air Force senior leadership has recognized the need for all airmen to possess a set of skills that will enable them to survive and operate in an expeditionary environment. This monograph provides the results of three connected analyses toward proposed training changes to build the future expeditionary airman. The first analysis used as its starting point a proposed training curriculum for common battlefield airman training (CBAT) developed by the Air Force Directorate of Operations (AF/A3O) and the Air Education and Training Command, Technical Training Division (AETC/A3T) for airmen within seven Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) who operate outside the perimeter of an air base. These include combat controller technicians (combat control teams [CCTs]), pararescuemen (PJs), security forces (SF), terminal attack controllers, combat weathermen (battlefield weather teams [BWTs]), and specialties associated with explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE). In this analysis, the authors examined how CBAT affects the existing curriculum for these seven AFSCs. The second analysis used the results of the first to develop a CBAT plan of instruction (POI). Using this estimated POI, they computed CBAT resource requirements (e.g., training areas and devices, classrooms, and instructors) using the RAND Schoolhouse Model. The third analysis consisted of a survey of individuals in previously deployed, non-ground combat Air Force specialties to develop a list of incidents they faced in high-threat environments. Using these data, subject-matter experts were able to develop a list of training categories to prepare non-ground combat deployers for these situations.

Air Force members who do not routinely cross a defended perimeter when deployed may not have received sufficient training for doing so when they need to. The authors conducted surveys and interviews to determine the kinds of experiences airmen have had "outside the wire," worked with subject-matter experts to categorize them and suggest training levels, and developed a series of recommendations for course content and further areas for study.

USAF par rescue and combat controllers routinely recover downed or injured military personnel and direct military aircraft in hostile or denied regions. Consequently, to be effective in these careers requires the ability to cope with severe stress. The USAF uses many strategies to ensure that battlefield airmen perform well under stress but one strategy, termed stress inoculation training, has not been fully incorporated as a training element.