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.

Air liaison officers (ALOs) play an important interservice role as U.S. Air Force officers collocated with U.S. Army units. This investigation of the feasibility of an ALO career field explores an array of research on the subject, turning to historical initiatives and instructions going back nearly a century, published literature, and interviews with ALOs, commanders, and tactical air control party personnel.Air liaison officers (ALOs) are U.S. Air Force officers who provide close air support to U.S. Army units. This investigation of the feasibility of an ALO career field relies on historical sources, interviews, and a personnel flow analysis.

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.