Strategy, Operations and Tactics

The three terms Strategy, Operations and Tactics, are sometimes used interchangeably, loosely, or in reference to two or more sub-sets of actions at the same time and therefore can cause confusion amongst people. A careful consideration of this set of concepts is quite helpful.

All three terms refer to somebody or some group going about the business of carrying out some sort of planned objective. The three terms refer to three levels of "granulation".

The basic concept which lies behind these three terms is that of "granulation". Just as we have three levels of granulation in "boulders, "rocks" and "pebbles", though all are exactly the same substance, so too, we refer to three levels of granulation with these three terms, but all refer to fulfilling a planned objective.

Just as you can break boulders down to any size, so too, intentional actions can be broken down into different levels of "granulation". The Americans and Canadian military tend to prefer two levels of granulation, (strategy and tactics) while the Russians and Germans tend to prefer three (strategy, operations and tactics)[]. What sometimes confuses people about the use of these three terms is that they can be shifted and used within a sub-level of activity and used to describe three levels of "granulation" within that sub-area. Therefore, it is important when using or hearing these three terms used to listen for the defining boundaries of the activity-set within which they are being used. It is important to be careful not to be confused by somebody else using the same three words in regards to a different activity set. For example, the three-level set can be used by each of the following levels of activity:

As ____[] points out any one of these levels of action can be either "forward" (being actively pursued) or "back" (not being actively pursued) independent of the other two, at any given time. An equivalent set of terms might be "active" and "passive".

"Strategy" is the broadest sense or highest level of activity in any undertaking. It refers to a very general aspect or branch of activity (which is why military leaders at this level are often called "generals"). This is the largest level of "granulation", like boulders in a gravel pit. For example, a country can have a strategy of looking like a friendly neighbor while secretly wanting to bring the entire region under its domination. At any time, the country could be strategically forward (actively pursuing this policy) or strategically back (holding this policy in abeyance for more favorable conditions).

"Tactics"are the actual activities which are employed in order to carry out an undertaking in order to fulfil an objective. They are the smallest level of "granulation", like pebbles in a gravel pit. For example a country might attack its neighbor using tactics of high level saturation bombing, or undermine its neighbor's economy by sabotaging its agricultural produce. If a country is strategically back in terms of dominating an area, it might well be tactically forward in terms of reconnaissance or sabotage, or provoking a neighbor into some other action.

Some people find a middle layer called "an operational level" or "operations" a helpful concept to employ between the two above layers. Actually any number of levels could be employed and labeled, but these three are the most commonly used terms. As with the above two levels, a country can be operationally forward or back while the other two levels are also either forward or back

____in his fascinating analysis of the Vietnam War makes the case that the main problem was that for the first part of the war, the North was strategically back and tactically forward, but confronting a coalition which was , by reason of its containment policy, strategically forward, but tactically back. Once they North found conditions favorable for a full-scale thrust to the south, they moved into a strategically forward - tactically forward stance, and swept down the peninsula. [check this]

My own preference is to use the two levels of granulation, "strategy" and "tactics" because when I divide activities into three levels of granulation then the amount to detail tends to accumulate, which I find to be confusing rather than clarifying.

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