Special to GUIDON

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So begins one of the greatest novels of all time, “A Tale of Two Cities,” written by Charles Dickens.

Special to GUIDON

Spring is the start of a new season of festivals in Missouri, and a number of communities large and small are hosting celebrations in the Show-Me State during the month of April. Here are just a few of the April activities happening across Missouri, according to the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs director

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in his many addresses to university students and faculty always ended his speeches with a similar call to action:

“For those for whom military service is neither possible nor the right thing for whatever reason, please consider how you can give back to the country that has given us all so much. Think about what you can do to earn your freedom — freedom paid for by those whose names are in veterans' cemeteries across the country and across the world.”

In the summer of 2006, I accepted this call to action and decided to quit my job as a reporter and commit myself to public service as a Department of Army civilian. For nearly six years, I have had the opportunity to do something my college buddies may never experience — to work alongside some of America's greatest men and women who have volunteered to serve and protect our nation during a time of war.

Air Force News Service

On the small-town playground of my childhood, the comeback quip of last resort after being physically or verbally pummeled was “Well, your momma wears combat boots.”

It was the juvenile equivalent of today's profane four-letter bombs, but with bigger consequences. If used, the surrounding crowd within earshot would in unison let out an "Aahhh, you're going to get it."

Not many dared to use this double-whammy epithet. First, after a rough and tumble fight, most didn't have the chutzpa to disparage someone's mother. Even the schoolyard bully recognized that this was not polite. By doing so, the user might get pummeled further and would probably get a mouth washing with a bar a soap when he got home.

Second, to ascribe warrior status to a real woman was something really unheard of too. After all, in most boys' eyes in my hometown, mothers and grandmothers were doting, white pearl- and sensible shoe-wearing pecan pie bakers; certainly not warriors.

The only combat boot-wearing women my prepubescent friends knew, and possibly admired, were Hippolyta and Wonder Woman. The former was the warrior queen in Greek mythology whose magical belt was recovered by the uberman and demigod Hercules during his 12 labors.