Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/02/first-responders-are-training.html
…
7 Likes
What an interesting phrase. The term “tactical” means forethought, planning and cognizance of a specific outcome. Something tells me that the fools who would let one of these fly have none of that.
14 Likes
I think it just means the rocket has a matte black finish.
25 Likes
It just means the smaller nuclear weapons, not meant to be delivered by an aircraft or an intercontinental ballistic missile:
Anyway that training may prove useful soon 
14 Likes
They (the public) are going to change the word usage whether you like it or not. Decimate it even. 
11 Likes
We used to describe that for a Tactical nuke the blast would be contained within a few grid squares. For a Strategic nuke you would need to use a few different map sheets to show the blast.
12 Likes
I’m glad to see that they are using their gear correctly. Their side-to-side sweeps with the beta/gamma probes are a little faster than I’d like but that’s a minor nit.
9 Likes
See if you can get potassium iodide pills; the municipalities in and around the Greater Toronto Area will send them to you for free, for example (we have a nuclear power plant in the region), so check if you can get them through your local or regional government. They last for about 12 years before they expire. Below is for the Greater Toronto Area.
https://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/news-room/feature-articles/potassium-iodide-KI-pills.cfm
3 Likes
I understand that the application of the word is technically correct, but the notion that nuclear weapons can be deployed in a thoughtful and strategically successful way is just profoundly ignorant (not at all directed at @SeamusBellamy’s editorial choices, ya dig?).
3 Likes
The smaller nukes are called “Tactical” specifically because they are intended to be used against specific targets (large towns, military installations, river valleys and mountain passes, etc.). As opposed to “Strategic” nukes that are intended for decimating large cities, contaminating large swathes of land (terrain denial), or for large troop concentrations in the open.
This was a 1950s mentality of course, when the expectation was that countries would have at most a few dozen nukes. And I agree profoundly ignorant. Of course by the 1960s this was a dated concept and the tactic of MAD came into play, but the terms tactical and strategic remained.
Edited to add, I didnt see the wikipedia links above.
7 Likes
It basically comes down to
Tactical : short range / low yield / battlefield use
Strategic : (very) long range / high yield / wipe out population centres
4 Likes
And the type of attack would be broadcast to the bomber crews and displayed on the CRM-114.
(Fiction)
8 Likes
You do see my user name & icon, right?
11 Likes
Of course 
Strangelove is great for making a mockery about the pseudo intelligent use of nuclear weapons.
4 Likes
I agree completely, but it fits well with the rest of terminology. Everything about nuclear weapons is absurd and profoundly ignorant.
2 Likes
Well that gave me the warm & fuzzies.
1 Like
So, er, USPS?
2 Likes
There was a special variant with packaging optimized for that:
4 Likes
And
Velcro,
Velcro is
the most important
part.
1 Like
“a tactical nuclear weapons strike on an urban population.”
NO AMOUNT OF TRAINING CAN PREPARE FIRST RESPONDERS FOR SUCH AN EVENT!
Geez, why don’t we watch “Duck & Cover” too?
Let’s not kid around folks; a nuclear strike of any size is not pretty. Very nasty radionuclides will be everywhere. All types of infrastructure will be destroyed. Anyone fortunate to survive the initial blast will have to deal with the injured along with the lack of medicine, water, food, & shelter. Hopefully there isn’t a follow-up firestorm from all the debris.
It will be an overwhelming event.
Get books on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Read the first hand accounts of the suffering & death during the first few days. Read about the mass confusion. The latent radiation illnesses.
In today’s military parlance, the 1940s era weaponry would probably be considered ‘tactical’ and ‘small’. I for one would not like a Hiroshima [Uranium based] or a Nagasaki [Plutonium based] device detonated in my city.
5 Likes
