diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/network_cli.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/network_cli.py
index 6cec05a510..db01ec8ba0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/network_cli.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/network_cli.py
@@ -149,6 +149,8 @@ class Connection(_Connection):
             command = obj['command']
             self._history.append(command)
             self._shell.sendall('%s\r' % command)
+            if obj.get('sendonly'):
+                return
             return self.receive(obj)
         except (socket.timeout, AttributeError):
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure("timeout trying to send command: %s" % command.strip())
@@ -206,15 +208,13 @@ class Connection(_Connection):
             * command - the command string to execute
             * prompt - the expected prompt generated by executing command
             * response - the string to respond to the prompt with
+            * sendonly - bool to disable waiting for response
 
         :arg cmd: the string that represents the command to be executed
             which can be a single command or a json encoded string
         :returns: a tuple of (return code, stdout, stderr).  The return
             code is an integer and stdout and stderr are strings
         """
-        # TODO: add support for timeout to the cmd to handle non return
-        # commands such as a system restart
-
         try:
             obj = json.loads(cmd)
         except ValueError: