People

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The Saga Of “Big Tony”

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Tony Pellegrino was a big man—6’ 7” tall and 260 pounds of muscle.

They called him “Big Tony”. He was big, all right, and loud and tough. Those who knew him swore he was the meanest man in the United States Army. A soldier in Big Tony’s unit said he had the foulest tongue he had ever heard in his twenty-six of military service. And after finishing Ranger and Airborne Schools at Fort Benning, how Big Tony went out drinking and rough—housing nearly sending another soldier to the promise land for making a comment he did not like about his mother. No, Big Tony didn’t present a pretty picture at all.

Big Tony was sent to Iraq with strict orders from Division to follow the orders of his commanders and senior non-commissioned officers and not to get out of control. On his first patrolling mission, Big Tony was fighting angry when he warned the squad leader that he recognized an innocent looking device as a home-made bomb. It subsequently exploded injuring three members of the squad. While still in the field, Big Tony beat up his senior ranking sergeant causing him injuries enough to require hospitalization. Big Tony was given a company grade article 15 and article 32, 30 days confinement, a lost of a third of his pay and reduction in rank to Private E-3. Once Big Tony got out of trouble, he was allowed to go on patrol. This time it was with a different unit.

During the patrol, the squad was engaged in a vicious fire fight. Big Tony watched in horror as a foreign fighter repeated ran an Iraqi through the heart with a bayonet as her children a boy and girl plead for her life. Their pleadings went unheard. When the foreign fighter grabbed the girl by the hair and was about to do the same to the young girl, that was all Big Tony could take. Big Tony leapt from his concealed position, ran towards the foreign fighter like a man possessed. With his rifle blazing, he killed the foreign fighter and three other comrades rescuing the sister and her younger brother. Members of Big Tony’s unit stood stunned but cheered the Big Guy when he came back holding the hand of the young girl and carrying her brother on his big massive shoulders.

Like a guardian angel, Big Tony guarded the two children like they were his own daring anyone to adversely comment about them to his face. Taking the children back to base camp, Big Tony was surprised by the care and kindness member of the unit’s chaplain and Christian soldiers were to their enemy combatants.

Big Tony knew about Christianity and, in fact, was a Roman Catholic. However, he rejected his Catholic faith when a young sister, whom he loved dearly died of cancer. He recalled praying long and daily for his younger sister believing God would heal her and make her better. When it did not happen, he angrily cursed God vowing never to trust God ever again. But when he looked into the eyes of the little Iraqi girl and boy he had rescued he witnessed the love of God. Big Tony could not believe his eyes and ears when the girl, a Caldean Christian, forgave the man and his associates who murdered her mother. The act of that 12 year old girl changed Big Tony’s anger towards God suddenly and abruptly. With tears in his eyes, Big Tony went to the chaplain to tell him why he hated God. Big Tony asked the chaplain what he could do to make things right with God.

The chaplain simply smiled saying, “welcome back brother!”

Big Tony was stunned by the chaplain’s response. The chaplain said, “Our God is big enough to deal with human anger and sin no matter how severe we think it is. Just ask for forgiveness. He’ll forgive you and take you back. He loves you Big Tony. He doesn’t care what you did in the past. This is now!”

When Big Tony came back to his unit that day he was a changed man. His habits of cussing, cursing, swearing, fighting and being a general nuisance were gone. His First Sergeant and Company Commander asked Big Tony what had happened to him. Big Tony told them in one quiet sentence: “I found the Lord Jesus Christ that was in me all along. I found him in this unit’s Christian community and in the heart of an Iraqi girl.”

Big Tony’s story was a fact that has been observed over and over and over again down through the centuries since the Lord walked the earth in a human body: NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU’VE DONE OR HOW LATE IT IS, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Even if you are as vile as Big Tony WAS.

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