Dowagiac native Kattiria Walker has never taken the easy way out of a situation.

A standout player on the Dowagiac Union High School basketball team, Walker was offered a scholarship to an area junior college to play the sport for them after her graduation.

However, when her brother was accepted into Western Michigan University, Walker decided to turn down the community college’s lucrative invitation and instead make her own way at the Kalamazoo school.

Shortly after her enrollment, she decided to lace up her sneakers and try out for the Broncos’ basketball team as a walk-on. In spite of never being recruited by the school’s scouts, she impressed the coaches enough that they offered her a spot on the team.

After a few practices, though, the student once again decided to change course, turning down the opportunity to play college sports to answer the call of duty and serve her country in the U.S. Army.

After a 29-year career and countless awards and accolades, the colonel’s tireless dedication has earned her a spot on the WMU Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program’s “Wall of Fame.” Walker will join a list of 39 other distinguished Western alumni and service veterans as the first woman inductee to the group, during a ceremony that will take place later this year.

“I when I heard I had been selected, I couldn’t believe it,” Walker said about the award. “I didn’t think I had accomplished enough in my career to be chosen. It was a real honor.”

Not a bad accomplishment for a hometown girl, who grew up as one of 11 children on the south side of town on Pokagon Street.

“We are very close — and competitive,” Walker said about her siblings. “We always pushed each other to do better.”

A 1985 graduate of Dowagiac Union High School, Walker grew up listening to her father, LeRoy, talk about his days serving in the U.S. Army, as solider serving overseas fighting in Vietnam. His stories instilled in Walker the spark to follow in his footsteps, a fire that intensified after her older sister, Gloria, joined the service while she was still in college.

“The Army is the face of the nation,” Walker said. “It is very inclusive and diverse. It is like the hallmark of America and its way of life, which is why I wanted to join.”

Determined to continue the family’s legacy, Walker enlisted in WMU’s ROTC program.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1990, Walker was assigned as a military police officer in Pennsylvania, where she was later qualified as a Civil Affairs Officer, experts who act as a liaison between the Army and civilian leaders.

In 2000, she began training for her current position as a force modernization officer. Today, Walker works under Major General John George in Washington, where she helps oversee the equipping and modernization of the Army’s equipment and gear.

“Whenever I tell people that I work in the Pentagon, their eyes light up,” she said.

Perhaps her biggest accomplishment came in 2012, when she and another individual were assigned as inspectors for the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program. Walker traveled to Army bases across the globe, including in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, Qatar, Korea, speaking with officers and soldiers to assess the impact the program was having on stamping out sexual harassment, compiling their findings in a report delivered to the president.

Through the Army, the colonel has received two master’s degrees, from the University of Cincinnati in 1995 and another from the prestigious Army War College. She has also received numerous accolades, including a Legion of Merit and five Meritorious Service Medals.

“You get as much out of the Army as you put into it,” she said. “If I could do it all over again, I would.”