vocabulary

It doesn’t matter if you are actually joining the ranks as enlisted or officer, OR you have been called to marry a beloved soldier… There is going to be a learning curve involved.

Early on in our marriage (ok, let’s be honest, it’s still pretty early… we are only 14 months in) I had to stop Brandon every other sentence and have him translate the gobbledygook that he was trying to communicate.  Even now, I have to put the words through a filter in my army wife head to understand them.

On a typical night, I hear something like this come from my beloved:

“Hey Sharita, the CO and the BC were talking today, and since we are done with ARM and getting ready to do FTX, I got voluntold to do CQ on 12 December.”

<insert wife brain scrambling sound here>

Translation:

“Hey Sharita, the commander and the battalion commander were talking today, and since we are done with advance rifle marksmanship and getting ready to do a field training exercise, I am working overnight charge of quarters duty on Monday, December 12.”

Um, ok. Roger?!?

This week, I am going to share with you some of my favorite “army” words/phrases… And since this is a Christian blog (not sure if you picked up on that yet and we are all fighting in the “Army of God,” I will of course be drawing some kind of parallel to how God lovingly directs our paths.

So are you ready? I hope you are standing at parade rest and anticipating todays “Word of the day.”

This word of the day is BY FAR my favorite word taught to me by the army. I use it in my civilian life… and it is awesome… Ready?

“Voluntold: the inadvertent nomination of an individual to comply with orders or plans through being commanded to do so… or else.”

A lot of the less then awesome duties that Brandon gets to do (and I get to deal with) in the army are typcially voluntold to him. This happens when someone says “Who wants to pull CQ tomorrow?” When everyone remains silent and avoids eye contact because they were hoping to sleep a full night and eat food other than from the DFAC (Dining facilities) and the answer comes from the same person who asked the question: “Knobby… you pull CQ.” And Brandon says OK (most of the time, because that is the kind of awesome soldier he is.)

God does the same thing– sometimes he asks a question or gives a subtle command that He of course already knows what will be the result. Maybe He says “Sharita, do you want to be called to ministry?” (Insert brief moment of blindness/eye contact avoidance here) “Thanks Sharita! Way to step up. You will do great. Now… get to work, girl.”

We all reserve the right to say NO to being voluntold… but it is going to cause a lot of issues, especially when we are being voluntold or called to do something by our Lord. We can say no… but then we have the whole issue of disobedience to deal with. While that sounds like a less than winning situation, let me assure you that living a life of obedience and embracing those calls of voluntold-ness is worth it. God knows what He is doing, and if he gave us choices all the time, we would probably be in a bigger mess than normal.

Have you been “voluntold” to do something lately as a soldier in the Army of God? Have you complied and followed through or tried to say no? Take heart and have faith… God is the ultimate commander– He isn’t interested in making you hurt or live in a pool of bureaucracy. He loves you… So when He has voluntold you to do something, let’s head into battle, together. Look up, smile and say YES SIR!

You won’t regret it.

Thankful to be Voluntold,

SGK

“Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.” Philemon 1:21

PS– The giveaway for the free “Leadership and Faith” package is still going on… BUT TODDAY IS THE LAST DAY! (Entries close at 8pm EST) You don’t want to miss out on this great opportunity. To enter comment or see my celebration post for more information!