Roger, WILCO, Over and Out.

'Combat!' was a 1960's television show about the U.S. Army's second platoon of King Company during World War II, starring Rick Jason and Vic Morrow as Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Sergeant Chip Saunders. It came on TV Tuesday nights on ABC from 7:30-8:30 from February 1962 until March 1967. One of the weekly military quotes from that series, in addition to ""Checkmate King Two, this is White Rook, over.", was "Roger, WILCO, Over and Out". For you with military experience, such as Everett, Jeff, Rick, Tony and others, these expressions may mean something to you.

White Rook was the radio "call sign", or the name used, for the senior NCO of the second platoon (Saunders), and Checkmate King Two was the call sign for the leader of the second platoon in King Company (Hanley). It was common then, not to change these call signs as the military does now daily (using code books to identify one's self). Company Commanders are and were referred to as "Something Six", where something is the assigned call NAME. In this case, it was probably "King Six". The second phrase, "Roger, WILCO, Over and Out", was a repeated error in radio protocol. 'Roger' means "I understand", "I got it!". WILCO means "I Will Comply". 'Over' means that I am briefly done talking and am waiting for a response from the person to whom I was talking. ('Break' is an expression that means I am briefly done talking, but I am going to continue in a couple of seconds--the purpose here was to keep radio transmissions to short lengths as enemies had (have) the capability to 'find' your location by honing in on those radio transmissions.) 'Out' means that I am done talking, and terminates the conversation (only one person uses 'Out'--protocol is normally the person who initiated the radio call, unless one of the people in the conversation is more senior in rank, then he or she will end the call). If someone says "Roger", it is not followed by "WILCO"....you use one or the other, but not both together. If you say "WILCO", it is implied that you 'rogered' (understood). A reply with "Roger" indicates that you understood the other party, but not necessarily would comply with any instructions....it is normally used to simply mean, "I understand". "Over and Out" are never used together either. "Out" implies the end of the conversation, while "Over" indicates someone else will be speaking next.

I gave you this little bit of trivia and military jargon to talk about understanding versus doing. I want to take the expressions, "Roger" and "WILCO" separately, and describe the difference in a Biblical setting. In Luke, chapter 18, we see the common parable about the ruler who asked Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (verses 18-27). Let me put that conversation into a military-ese set of radio transmissions:

Here is an example of a person who really understood the laws of God. He even claimed to have kept, or obeyed, them. When challenged with a 'harder command', however, he couldn't get his heart right to follow it. Essentially, he became a "Roger" -type of person. He understood the command, but was not going to comply with it. A "WILCO" person would have immediately accomplished what was commanded. As a matter of a fact, the other people listening to this conversation, and then 'radio-ing' in at the end, probably were "Roger" folks as well.

In our lives, a lot of us probably will say "Roger" to the commands of God. It is fairly easy to understand them, but far more difficult to follow them. As a matter of a fact, the Biblical word, 'Amen', which is mis-defined by Webster-Merriam as 'a hearty approval', is used in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, the Psalms and Proverbs for people who are "expressing their assent (understanding) of a law and their willingness to submit to the penalty attached to the breach of it." (Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985). An "Amen" really means, "WILCO", but when we say that term in church services to encourage a speaker, we really don't grasp the full meaning of what we are saying. We are actually sending a "Will Comply" statement to God, yet most of the time, we are simply saying, "Roger, I understand." Why I say this is that oft times we hear a great message from our speakers, yet we leave the service and 1, probably forget most of what was said, or 2, acknowledge it but do not carry it out during the rest of the week.

Sergeant Saunders was a good platoon sergeant, as was Lieutenant Hanley a good platoon commander (unfortunately during the five year running of that show, they lost 118 of their men in combat...an infantry company in reality is only about 100 soldiers!!!). As good soldiers, when the 'Sarge' responded to the 'Louie' with a 'WILCO', Lt Hanley would know that SGT Saunders would indeed carry out his (understood) command to the best of his capability. We are in the army of God, or at least we claim to be. We are not the 'company commander'---that senior role is reserved for Jesus. We are, or can be, however, good platoon leaders and sergeants. Our responses to Jesus should be "Roger" when we are simply acknowledging his commands. "Yes, Lord, I understand all that you are saying." In addition, however, when the command applies to us, directing us to do something at any given time, then at that point, our response MUST be, "WILCO". Roger?