Lt. Col. Diana Parzik, Battalion Commander

440th Civil Affairs Battalion

Lt. Col. Diana Parzik was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer into the U.S. Army in 2001. Her first tour was at Landstuhl, Germany, and she deployed from there to Honduras and later to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2007 Parzik was assigned to the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command in Korea and served as the senior safety and medical staff officer. In 2009 she assumed command of the joint medical unit at Joint Task Force - Bravo, Honduras, where she led medical teams throughout Central America. Following completion of command, she was assigned to the National Capital Region and served as the environmental chief for the North Regional Medical Command at Walter Reed Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Parzik left active duty in 2010 to work as a civil servant for the assistant secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) and transitioned into the U.S. Army Reserve to become a Civil Affairs officer while assigned to the 352nd Civil Affairs Command. In 2013 she was deployed with the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion to Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa as a Civil Affairs team leader in Ali Sabieh, Djibouti. Upon her return, Parzik assumed command of Charlie Company, 437th Civil Affairs Battalion, Virginia Beach. Following selection and graduation from the Information Operations program, Chapel Hill, in 2019, she accepted a career broadening assignment with the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center (JIOWC) and worked for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Parzik currently serves as commander of the 440th Civil Affairs Battalion located at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Parzik is a graduate of James Madison University and holds a Bachelor of Science in integrated science and technology. She attained her master’s of public health in communicable diseases from the University of South Florida in 2003. Her military training includes the U.S. Army Medical Department Officer Basic Course and Captain’s Career Course, and the Civil Affairs Qualification Course. She also has graduate certificates in security, stability and development in complex operations (SSDCO) and rule of law (RoL) from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. In 2015 she completed Command and General Staff and she holds a master degree from the Naval War College. Parzik is also a graduate of the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA), Geneva.

In her civilian career, Parzik is a counter-disinformation coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and serves as a civil servant in the Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG). She resides in Springfield, Virginia.