UW-Whitewater Public Relations and Communications instructor Ann Peru Knabe was driving to Whitewater to teach a public relations class when she heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Soon after that, Knabe heard of a second plane crashing, and that the cause of the accident was a terrorist act.

As a civilian, Knabe had many of the same unanswered questions that millions of Americans had. As a mother, she was left with the task of explaining a devastatingly-unexpected situation to her five-year-old daughter. Yet Knabe’s life as a civilian and as a mother were not as life-changing as the third role Knabe held. September 11, 2001, turned Air Force Reservist Ann Knabe’s world upside-down.
“September 11 changed everything,” Knabe said.
When Knabe joined the Air Force Reserve as a medic 25 years ago as an undergraduate at Marquette, she had no reason to plan for deployment. As Knabe worked her way into the public affairs field as an enlisted person, she eventually became Lieutenant Colonel Ann Peru Knabe, APR+M, Air Force Reserve Public Affairs Officer. Knabe said she typically worked for a two-week annual tour, one week in a month and an extra day here or there every year.
After the 9/11 attack, Knabe found herself in the same situation every Armed Forces Reservist was in at the time, uncertain of what her role in the Reserves would transform into.
“That was the hardest part, the uncertainty,” Knabe said. “Nobody really knew what to expect, a terrorist attack was so unthought of.”
Knabe’s uncertainty ended after being mobilized twice between 2005 and 2007. While supporting “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” “Operation Enduring Freedom” and aircraft missions into Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, Knabe worked as an officer of public affairs covering Air Force missions, and taking part in many different areas of international media. Knabe’s third and most recent deployment in 2008 was to serve as the Pentagon’s spokesperson for the Guantanamo Bay War Court.
“We’re in Whitewater, in our safe little city, yet there are terrorist threats all over the world,” Knabe said. “It’s easy not to think about, but there are so many people overseas… and there are so many missions, and I honestly don’t know if that’s ever going to change in our lifetime.”
Knabe is one of many Reserve members forced to leave lives as wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, teachers, nurses and other roles to serve their country. In Knabe’s case, she has had to leave her husband and two daughters at home for five to six months at a time, and also push her work on a Ph.D. program to the back burner.
“You sort of put your lifestyle on hold as you mentally check out from this place here and go do this military job,” Knabe said. “It’s hard in a sense because you have to compartmentalize your life.”
Yet Knabe said it has gotten easier to keep in contact with loved ones thanks to things like Facebook and social media.
“It’s interesting when you have the family dynamic because they grow while your gone, and you can have the greatest communication in the world but you’re still missing things like the teeth that fall out and things like that,” Knabe said.
Throughout Knabe’s career as a Reservist, she said one of the hardest parts about it is going through very stressful situations. During a two-week combat operations training program, Knabe said she was forced to go through a series of stressful, real-life situations that happen in a war zone with a group of Airmen she had never met prior to the program. Yet Knabe said after the two weeks had passed, she had made great friends.
“There is such a level of trust among military people that you’ve served with and gone through stressful situations with,” Knabe said.
Knabe also said 9/11 made the camaraderie and service component in the Reserve more meaningful and more real to people.
“Before 9/11 people didn’t really hear about the Reserves or know what it was, but now I think they realize that we do play a vital role as citizen airman and citizen soldiers in the community,” Knabe said. “We wear two hats. I wear the ‘Ann Knabe teaching hat’ here, and then I have this whole other life where I’m defending America.”
Even though Knabe’s life as a Reservist drastically changed due to 9/11, Knabe said she has made life-long friends and had meaningful experiences in the field of professional public relations.
“I’ve grown obviously with all of this. I love being engaged with the military community and helping preserve our country and the freedoms we all enjoy,” Knabe said.
Knabe, who has lived in Wisconsin for most of her life, also said if it wasn’t for her family, community and UW-Whitewater, she would have had a very different experience.
“I think your place of employment and even your family and friends are what make it or break it,” Knabe said. “I’m really lucky that Whitewater is a really supportive institution, not just for Reservist and Guard members like me, but also for our students who have served. It’s the support that we have from the community that allow us to do what we do.”