During Cascade Challenge 2018, Maj. Khristopher Krueger used the term "battlefield airmen" to describe the individuals involved in the competition.  

"This is about sharpening the skills these airmen bring to the battlefield," the air liaison and chief plans officer of the 1st Air Support Operations Group (ASOG) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said.

"We solve ground problems with air power."

Having to solve the problem became apparent during Operation Anaconda after a March 2002 battle against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters on Takur Gar in mountainous central Afghanistan.

The fight -- in which seven American servicemembers died -- highlighted the need for senior land and air force planners to work together. Since then, all of the services have worked to synchronize land, air and, if need be, sea power.

In June 2003, Gen. John Jumper, then Air Force Chief of Staff, ordered the creation of a "ground warrior team" to "identify synergies and processes of sharing information on ... acquisition, sustainment and modernization programs" that airmen would need in future conflicts.

"We're going to exercise our air and ground together in ways that assure that our Army leaders understand ... what air and space power can do for them," Jumper said in February 2004.

That same year, then Air Force Secretary James Roche made public the concept of "battlefield airmen." In 2005, the Air Force published Policy Directive 10-35 which lists the seven battlefield airmen specialties that comprise the Air Force's ASOG community.

Combat controllers, special tactics officers, tactical air control party personnel, pararescue jumpers, combat rescue officers, conventional battlefield weathermen, and special operations forces weathermen comprise the seven areas who will, according to the directive, "directly assist, control, enable, and/or execute operational air and space power functions in the forward battlespace

Cascade Challenge hones this concept.

During the three-day competition held at JBLM, 16 competitors comprising eight teams from various Air Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS) from around the Pacific region competed in a variety of challenges to test their physical and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) skill sets.

The list of 20 challenges included land navigation, a battlefield physical fitness test, an overnight vehicle navigation course, close air support planning, call for fire, an obstacle course, weapons proficiency, medical care and evacuation, a 12-mile ruck march and four written tests to include Army symbology knowledge and close air support protocols.

"It's about reacting under duress," SrA George Tesoniero said as he watched two battlefield airmen administer combat lifesaver care to a seriously injured simulated casualty. "They've got 12 minutes to assess, care for and move to an extraction point; so far, all of the competitors have done well. They have to be good."

At the end of the competition, the team of Lt. Walker Loeffler and A1C Austin Fisher, 5th Air Support Operations Squadron, won the competition.

"This is about honing skills, building relationship with the Army, and be able to provide what commanders on the ground need," said Krueger.

"We bring it all together."