Jake and Katherine Robinson were growing up in different parts of the country on Sept. 11, 2001, and both enlisted in the military because of the attacks that day. They met when they were both stationed in Arizona and married four years ago.

Jake and Katherine Robinson were teenagers during the 9/11 attacks, a few years away from high school graduation.

But the day would affect both of their futures — and would lead to an unusual love story.

Katherine, originally from Coeburn, Va., and Jake, from Oberlin, said the attacks were a major part of why they both enlisted in the Army.

“I probably wouldn’t have (enlisted) before 9/11,” said Katherine at the couple’s apartment in west Lawrence. “But I thought, ‘I’m 18. I’m old enough to do something.'”

Katherine’s rationale was echoed by the man who’s now her husband of four years.

“I’m the right age, I should be doing something,” Jake said of his thinking at the time.

Jake left Kansas University, and Katherine left the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, and both ended up at basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. They never met there but joke that they most likely battled each other in training exercises.

Jake and Katherine, both Army intelligence, were transferred to Fort Huachuca in Arizona, were they met and went on a first date. Shortly after that first date, though, it became a long-distance relationship for the next few years.

Jake was shipped to Alaska, and Katherine to Georgia. They stayed in touch, and, despite the distance, grew closer.

The couple laugh when asked how Jake proposed.

“Over the phone,” Katherine said.

The couple married in Georgia in 2007, right before Katherine was sent to Iraq. Again, they kept in touch over the phone and Skype when Internet was available. As Katherine was coming back from Iraq in 2008, Jake had just arrived there.

In 2010, after the required four years of military service, Jake talked Katherine into moving to Lawrence so the couple could attend KU.

Now they’re making up for lost time apart, and are finally able to celebrate an anniversary, a Christmas and Katherine’s birthday together.

“I still feel like we’re newlyweds,” Katherine said.

They still both have a few years left in the Army reserves but are working toward their degrees a little later than most of their friends. Jake, 26, is studying political science and international studies, while Katherine, 25, is studying psychology.

They are proud of the sacrifices they made to serve in the military following 9/11.

“It was something important we did,” Katherine said.

The couple are settling into Lawrence and KU and making friends.

In addition to persuading Katherine to come to KU — far away from family in Virginia — Jake’s also been able to turn Katherine into a KU basketball fan. But that was the easy part, Jake said.

“As soon as she went to (a game),” he said, “that was it.”