-=> Quoting Ray Marsh to Jim Sanders <=-
 RM> Greetings...
 RM> I meant to ask you, Jim, in USAAF parlance what was the difference
 RM> between strategic Žand tactical?
        I don't believe the terms have changed much over the years.  I was
always under the understanding that Tactical operations are usually kept
to a battle field or theater-wide scale and often have a specific
(mission-orientated) goal.  For example, taking out an airbase would be
a tactical operation.  Strategic operations encompass multiple theaters
and often have broader (politically-orientated) goals.  For example,
REFORGER, NATO's plan to reinforce Germany and move out non-combatant
personnel to the CONUS would be a Strategic operation.
         Sometimes the line between the two fades, depending on the
circumstances or scale.  The bombing of French airfields prior to D-Day
could have been described as tactical operations, but the bombing of the
Ruhr Dams and the bombing of the oil fields at Ploesti (sp) had strong
strategic implications, (In one Germany was denied the heavy water needed
for atomic research, in the other a significant source of Axis oil would
have been destroyed.) even though they were essentially single targets.
        Christopher
... Airborne: Jumping out of a perfectly good plane to walk
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