Life takes on new meaning for researcher after 9/11

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Timothy Boyer
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  It was a normal day like any other for Jeanette Watterson, at the time an academic research scientist, who was getting ready for work when the news of an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center came on the TV.

Now a major in the Air Force, Watterson said 9/11 was a wakeup call for her.

"Nothing of this magnitude had ever occurred in my lifetime," she said. "And certainly not on U.S. soil. It was devastating."

Watterson said she felt as if suddenly her life had taken on a new meaning, and she decided to join the Air Force.

"I wanted to do something more purposeful," she said. "As a lab officer, I can be deployed to work in medical centers in theater where I can provide the blood necessary to save lives and also provide testing to detect and identify biological weapons."

During the 2001 attacks, Watterson said she was engaged to a man who she later married. He then followed her lead in becoming a lab officer in the Air Force. With two children, Watterson has the motivation to keep America safe, and tries to help her children understand why she serves.

"They are too young to understand the impact," she said. "But they definitely have a greater appreciation of what it means to be an American than I ever did growing up."

Watterson describes 9/11 as a profound tragedy, but also points out that it was a turning point for our nation and its citizens. These attacks seemed to bring Americans together in a way that had not been seen in a lifetime.

"It's a shining example of how a negative event can be turned around to yield positive outcomes," she said.