U.S. Army First Lt. Albert Azarias spent the summer of 2025 deployed to Jordan, where barrages of missiles flew overhead during a clash in June between Israel and Iran. After returning home, he was installed in December as commander of the 317th Engineer Construction Company at the Army Reserve Center in Homewood.

Azarias was stationed in Homewood prior to deployment and served as platoon leader and executive officer prior to deployment.

The company held a change of command ceremony on Dec. 14, 2025. With the company soldiers present, officers conducted the flag ceremony to mark the change of leadership. 

The company flag was presented by the outgoing commander to the battalion commander, who hands it to the new commander.

Following the ceremony, Azaria delivered, offering his vision for the company. He said the company was No. 1 in the battalion in 2023 and 2024 but had experienced some setbacks in 2025.

“We’ve lost a lot of leaders. We have our work cut out for us,” he said. “But this company is built on its people and its culture.” 

He said the company’s excellent culture would help, and he pledged to return the company to top performance.

Azarias also hopes to encourage more engagement with the community. His goal is to do at least one service project for the community every year, he said. Because the 317th is an engineering company, its members have a variety of skills, from carpentry to earth moving, that could be put in service of community projects.

He also hopes to resume work with his non-profit organization, which was put on hold while he was deployed. Its main project has been collecting new or nearly new boots from soldiers and distributing them to people in need of good footwear. 

“I want to give back,” he said.

As commander of the 150-member company, Azarias’ is responsible for ensuring soldiers are trained in combat basics like operating weapons and use of force regulations, are physically fit and in competent in engineering functions.

He said the deployment in the Middle East was a chance to learn and grow as a leader. He served as the officer in charge of all U.S. Army engineer projects in Jordan and at one base in Syria. He oversaw 45 projects, including base expansions, base deconstructions and base defense efforts. He managed air defense projects, and he got experience working with NATO troops from a variety of nations.

He also worked to improve communication between military units and got experience with reconnaissance. 

All the work was done while under frequent threat of missile attack.

“My goal is to take that experience and then teach the newer soldiers who haven’t deployed,” he said.