Less than 24 hours before deployment, U.S. Army SPC Frantz Eliscard stood in the fifth row on a theater stage, six soldiers in, listening to a string of political and military leaders offering words and wisdom to send off the Miami-based troops to Afghanistan in a ceremony Saturday at Miami Dade College North Campus.

The reality settled in, a reservist’s first call to combat duty far away in a troubled land.

Eliscard thought of the mission in a war that has stretched for more than a decade but is now winding down. He thought of all the training that led up to this moment. He thought of his wife, Yvonne, of almost five years, seated in the audience, who was four months pregnant when he received the order to deploy. And he thought of his triplets Elijah, Emery and Eian, who at 13 months were just learning the steadiness of his voice, the gentleness of his touch.

“I am so motivated and ready to go and honor and serve my country,’’ says Eliscard, 27, a Haitian American serving as a military mechanic. “And then I walked outside and looked in the faces of my sons. My greatest fear is that I when I return home, they don’t remember me. But here’s what I know: I have to focus on my mission and not let the emotions get the best of me and I have to be strong for my wife who has to hold down our home.’’

About an hour after the sun rises Sunday, Eliscard and the other 174 soldiers of the Miami-based U.S. Army 841st Engineer Battalion will board a chartered flight out of Miami International Airport headed to Texas for the final weeks of training before they reach Afghanistan, nearly 8,000 miles from home. And shortly after that first flight, from Miami to Fort Bliss, Texas, the battalion will become members of Task Force Hurricane and part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Transition is the new mission

American troops have been in Afghanistan for more than a decade, trying to break the crushing grip of al-Qaida and dismantle the Taliban regime, a push that began with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now, the mission is a peaceful transition of the country back to Afghan hands. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced American forces would end their combat role in Afghanistan as early as mid-2013, more than a year before all American troops are scheduled to withdraw. U.S. military commanders said forces will begin shifting this year toward more of an advisory role as Afghanistan’s national army and police take more responsibility for fighting the insurgency. Quite possibly, the battalion, led by Lt. Col. William “Clete” Schaper, will be one of the last Army engineering battalion deployed to the war-torn country.

For the reservists from Miami, the transition is personal: from civilian carpenter or pilot, police officer or student to active duty combat medic or engineer or mechanic. And sometimes, it’s a transition with little warning, like the 19-year-old student — now combat medic — who received his orders Monday.

“These are truly the people who you run into every day in your community,’’ says Capt. Geoff Givens, of Melbourne, who commands the company responsible for supporting the battalion operation. “They are fairly young, many in their mid 20s, most are being deployed for the first time. And they are a reflection of Miami, so many are first-generation Americans who bring different ethnic cultures but are bound by the mission to defend our country. If all goes well, we hope to be home by Christmas.’’