Colonel Dalton Diamond mobilized as a US Army Reserve soldier, deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and also serving as the command surgeon of US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On active duty continually since 2001, Diamond first went to USASOC to serve as the deputy command surgeon, then on to Afghanistan in 2003 for nine months as surgeon for the Coalition Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force. Diamond deployed again to Afghanistan in 2006 for a year as the director of cooperative medical assistance for Joint Task Forces 76 and 82. The use of medical and veterinary outreach as a combat multiplier is an old tradition in the US Army's special operations forces, applied again in Afghanistan. In addition to providing succor to indigenous populations with poorly developed healthcare infrastructures, Diamond found that in the OEF counterinsurgency campaign, medical outreach also facilitated passive intelligence collection. Diamond commented that they had to seek a balance in their efforts to help the Afghans, assist military commanders, as well as to the extent possible help the Afghans develop a self-sustaining healthcare and veterinary infrastructure. This last task became more the role of non-governmental and international organizations (NGOs/IOs) as the security situations allowed. Diamond witnessed very different strategic contexts between his two tours in Afghanistan. Initially under US control, medical outreach and development efforts supported commander's intent, as tools in the commander's tool box. In his subsequent tour, provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs), US and coalition, had assumed such responsibilities. The PRTs operated alongside with as much involvement from US interagency partners and NGOs/IOs as local security situations could support. Such medical support in stability operations took place largely in a doctrinal vacuum.

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