Tactics, command, leadership

A tactical approach is based on acting through taking and hol-
ding the initiative. The starting point is to obtain and maintain
control. It is only through the application of resources that achie-
ving a conclusive outcome is possible. These resources must be
coordinated in order to achieve the best possible effect, either at
a particular incident site, and then perhaps through measures, or
in a more overall perspective in which resources need to be dist-
ributed, for example, between several simultaneous ongoing ope-
rations. Leadership is an important tool when it comes to using
these resources and measures effectively.
Establishing the goal of the operation or operations lays the
ground for active intervention and influence over the course of
events.
It is through applying resources and measures that the destruct­
ive sequence is affected, the risk situation confronted and the
emergency preparedness production accounted for.
A tactical approach is, then, called for which encompasses all
of these aspects.
The scale of operations varies with time and space within a
single response operation. The variation depends on, among other
things, the changes in assistance needs at different times and pla-
ces within affected area, the increase in resources and the configu-
ration of the organisation. It is no easy task to direct the complete
configuration of a response operation through applying separate
tactical concepts. Something that from one perspective appears
to be an offensive action can from an overall perspective appear
less offensive if, for example, the complete assistance need is not
accommodated. So configuring the work concerns establishing
goals for operations and tasks in different perspectives in such
a way that each person involved in the operation knows what is
expected of them.
On the basis of the concept of a measure, then, a discussion can
be taken up as to what the purpose of measures are with respect
to a certain part of the assistance need. At the same time the total
tactical configuration must be taken into consider ation. A single
measure is inherently always offensive as it concerns activity to ac-
hieve a goal. A measure can, for example, concern taking care of a
victim in different ways. It could also concern combating a destruc-
tive sequence (with the use of equipment), moving valuables out of
danger or preventive activity to protect a threatened area. Therefore
to talk in terms of offensive or defensive measures is meaningless.