It has been said that war is for the young. But not everyone who goes to war is young. Sam Adamczyk, a Highland neighbor, is one such guy. He's in his thirties, is married to Deanna, has two boys, Austin and Ian, is not in the military but has left for Iraq. Sam works for the U.S government and has taken a short-term job in Baghdad in support of the coalition forces. He left Aug. 15 and should be back home in time for Christmas.

Our son, Charlie Gait, came home after spending the summer living and working in Melbourne, Fla. His cousin, staff Sgt. John Beltz, is stationed near there with the Air Force and had invited Charlie down for an extended stay. The only thing left for him to do was to find a job. It turned out that he got a job at the apartment complex where his cousin, John, resides.

Charlie spent the summer working as a maintenance man. There he got a taste of what the world was really like. On his very first day of work, Charlie was assigned to clean out an apartment from which the tenants were evicted.

I can't describe some of the things that the former tenants did in the apartment, but suffice it to say, the condition of the apartment after they were evicted was atrocious.

Throughout the course of his employment, he learned to do some simple plumbing, lots of painting, carpet removal and carpet laying -- he really learned lots of things that he'll be able to use once he completes his schooling and gets a place of his own. That's one thing that this job really drove home for him -- the need for a college education.

"I had fun, learned a lot but I'm glad to be home," he said.

Labor day is coming -- it's Sept. 1 this year -- a Monday. Now I generally don't mention the particular day that a holiday falls on unless there's a compelling reason -- such as if the holiday falls on the day that either trash or recycling is picked up. For the good people of Highland and Fulton, this means no recycling pick-up that day. So you'll have to store up your recycling until Sept. 8.

Well, that's all for this week. Look after your neighbors. Remember our troops who are serving in harm's way. And their families. Commit a random act of kindness.

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