I’m not a military man, but my younger brother recently retired from the US Air Force Reserve. Whenever I take a trip, especially out of the country, he always reminds me to ‘watch my six’, and it doesn’t stop there. He continues with, ‘be aware of your surroundings’, ‘carry your valuables in your front pockets’, and ‘don’t look like a tourist’. Well, little brother, I am a tourist.

The phrase ‘watch your six’ originated with American fighter pilots during World War I. It is a shorthand way of saying ‘watch your back’ or ‘watch out for danger behind you’. Be alert.

In aerial combat, the rear of an aircraft is the most vulnerable place because pilots have a significant blind spot there. During combat, it became a standard tactic for enemy planes to try to attack from this six o’clock position.

Watching your six doesn’t just apply to combat or traveling abroad, but it applies in most situations and scenarios we may encounter in life. The truth is, we all have blind spots; areas where we are more vulnerable. If we’re not careful; if we’re not alert, we can be caught off guard or unprepared for what is coming.

Alertness means to be aware of what is taking place around us so that we can respond appropriately. The opposite of alertness is carelessness. When we are unaware of what is taking place around us, we are limited in our ability to respond appropriately. When we are not alert, we, at best, can only react to what happens, instead of being prepared to cut things off at the pass if necessary. The key to alertness is that we want to be able to respond in the most effective and appropriate way possible when the need arises, and the more information we have, the more effective our response will be.

Renowned college basketball coach John Wooden defined alertness as “constantly observing, absorbing, and learning”. In our everyday lives, including in and around our homes, the workplace, places of worship, and other social gatherings, it’s important to always be observant and aware; having a focused ‘lay of the land’ type of attitude.

Spouses need to be alert to what’s happening in their partners life. Parents need to be alert to what’s happening in their children’s lives. Employers, employees and coworkers can always benefit from a certain level of alertness in the workplace. Pastors should have a good feel for what’s going on in the lives of those they are responsible for shepherding.

Just because nothing is happening, doesn’t mean alertness is not needed. It is in times of inactivity, when everything seems calm, that alertness is sometimes needed the most. It is that quiet before the storm that must be given our fullest attention.

I love the scene from the movie The Bourne Identity, when Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, goes into a diner and sits down with a young lady whose life he has just turned upside down. He’s trying to explain to her that he has certain skills, but he has no idea how or where he got them. Sitting in the diner he says to her, “I come in here, and the first thing I’m doing is I’m catching the sightlines and looking for an exit. I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left- handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that?”

Now, that is some next level alertness. I’m in no way saying that our alertness has to be to this level, but I believe the take away here is that whatever ‘diner’ in life we find ourselves in, we should try to be prepared for as many contingencies as possible. Author Jonathan Lockwood Huie said, “Be alert. The most important things in life are seldom the most obvious.”

In closing, it turns out that ‘watch your six’ was not the first three-word phrase that encourages alertness. I believe the first came from the three powerful words Jesus spoke to His disciples the night He was betrayed. He said, “Watch and pray”. We would all do well to heed His advice.