TWINSBURG, Ohio - Spc. Robert Capstick and his wife Becky are preparing for their son's return from Afghanistan. At the same time, the Capstones are attending a Yellow Ribbon event in Twinsburg, Ohio to prepare for Capstick's deployment to Afghanistan in August.
This will be a bittersweet summer for Becky Capstick, who must prepare a welcome home celebration for her son Brett, who is returning from Afghanistan for the second time; while saying good-bye to her husband as he prepares to deploy to Afghanistan for the first time.
Wearing matching shirts, Becky and her husband Robert are preparing for this life altering event by spending their Saturday at a “Yellow Ribbon” event held by the 2nd Psychological Operation Group in Twinsburg, Ohio. In June, The Capsticks are just one of many families who attended the two-event seminar where they received information on how to ease the struggle a family might come face to face with during their separation. Prior to this deployment the longest that they have been without each other is when Robert spent five weeks reclassifying as a psychological operations specialist. “We are inseparable,” added Becky.
Becky believes that being an older couple, having been married 12 years, will only help the couple cope with the deployment and separation. “I'm hoping this helps us because all of our children are older now,” said Becky “But it’s not going to be easy because we are always together. It is going to be a real adjustment,” said Becky. “Because we are new to this we are absorbing all the information that is needed to make this deployment easier,” said Robert.
As a former Marine, Robert decided to join the Army Reserve during his Brett’s first deployment to Iraq. “I wanted to talk to him about being in a hostile environment but I couldn’t relate,” said Robert emotionally. “I re-enlisted to see what he has been through.” For Robert he feels like he is following his son’s footsteps. “Yea, it’s a little bit backwards, but now we can relate,” said Robert.
“It’s important for him and that makes it important to me. I have to support him,” said Becky. “God has put him in this position for a reason.”
Becky feels these yellow ribbon events help foster networking and creates a military family community. “Some people don’t have a strong family unit at home. We are fortunate to have a small community that is supportive.” Becky added that networking will allow dependents to have resources that might help their family.
Events three and four are provided for the dependents while their loved one is deployed and events five, six and seven are available for the soldier and their family to attend post-deployment.
Capstick will spend the next 14 months away from his family. First he will train at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., then deploy to Afghanistan soon after with the 350th Psychological Operations Company. There they will work with key leaders and elders of small Afghani villages to help disseminate information that will help stabilize the area. The Capsticks plan to spend time with their son before Robert leaves. This time Robert can get a word of advice from his - payback for the years of advice he gave to his son while growing up. When Brett joined the Army it was “like father, like son”. But now it’s become “like son, like father”