I haven't played either of these two games; and i'm swaying more towards Jagged Alliance 2. But in your opinion which of the two would be better to get; and also which has more RPG elements (levelling up, etc.) since I almost always like RPG elements in games. Thanx.
EDIT: Oh and in either of the two games, if your men (or women) die in battle are they gone for good?

i think in both games they are gone,
I prefer Jagged alliance it has a deeper gameplay and story, not that fallout tacticts is that bad, but i would call it tacict-light with fallout flavour

Basically, JA2 has more fleshed-out characters, and more tactical gameplay. FT has its setting, and the SPECIAL system (not saying it's that much better over JA2's). JA2 has also a reasonable amount of sidequests and random events - I don't know how F:T fared in that matter.

As far as mechanics go, JA2 has it all over FoT. Jagged Alliance has the deeper combat system, with more options. Especially if you use addons like Urban Chaos. JA2 has more weapons and items, AFAIK. Plus, the characters are freakin' hilarious.
After blowing someone's head off: My customized Merc. "Man, talk about losing face."
Fidel, the insane Cuban bomb technicians reponse to the above: "Hehe, no need to wear hat anymore."
Steroid, the Arny parody, on finding a trap: "There is a large boob trap present!"
Fallout Tactics is a pretty good game. Jagged Alliance 2 is a classic. (JA notsomuch, though it might be worth a try later)

The BIG problem with Fallout Tactics is how boring it becomes. The begging is just great, but later in the game, when you must kill 30 super mutents... meh!

I like both games. Fallout Tactics is awesome if you bought this game before Fallout 1 and 2 and you finish it. Afterwards..... you find it harder to keep the game installed of your computer unless your friends have it and they LAN it quite often. On the other hand, Jagged Alliance 2 is really more story driven and with the 1.13 mod/update, the game just becomes awesome! Definitely worth it's money. But in the end both games are valid options depending on your choice of games.

I played both.
JA2 wins it easily from FT.
FT isn't a bad game, but as ElPixelIlustre said, it's getting boring the further you get.

Most advantages of JA2 are mentioned already.
Replayability is high due to the characters, side quests and game settings.
There's a nice number of mods available to enhance gameplay even further.

If you loved X-Com UFO Defense, this is the game to get.