What happens when a single phone call sends your life in a completely different direction? In The Call That Sent Him to Iraq (And Changed His Faith), Tom Pazili shares the moment he was asked to deploy to Iraq as a civilian advisor immediately after the war—and the prayer, fear, and faith that followed.

This conversation explores what it means to live a mission-focused life when everything in you wants comfort and certainty. Tom recounts leaving behind safety to step into a war zone with no military training, trusting that the call to serve something greater was worth the risk. From surviving rocket attacks to attending Mass inside Saddam Hussein’s palace, his story reveals how moments of danger and uncertainty can deepen faith in ways ordinary life never could.

But the story doesn’t end there. Tom also shares another life-altering decision—leaving New York with his family during COVID after his wife lost her job over a religious vaccine objection. Faced with uprooting their entire life, they chose faith over comfort and stepped into the unknown once again.

Along the way, Tom reflects on the importance of being mission-focused, the heroes who shaped him—from St. Thomas More to John Paul II—and why modern men must rediscover purpose, courage, and trust in God.

https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/tom-basile

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 – Why men choose the harder path

3:17 – Real heroes still exist today

5:22 – Police trauma and positive psychology

7:36 – Be mission focused in life

10:24 – Decision to go to Iraq

12:04 – Leaving New York after COVID

14:44 – The great magisterium of God

16:51 – Mass inside Saddam Hussein’s palace

21:54 – Losing his father young

25:01 – Heroes: Aquinas, Thomas More, John Paul II