AUSTINTOWN — For Catrina A. Scott, joining the military was a means to an end.

“I went to Central State University, the same college as my mom and dad. It’s a historically black college / university, the only one in Ohio. They are known for being the first HBCU to have an ROTC program. I was running out of options, and they were offering four-year scholarships, so I kind of weighed the pros and cons, and I signed up,” she said.

Scott studied management information systems with a minor in military leadership.

“I did that for four years. It kind of taught me the foundation and principles of how to be a leader,” Scott said.

These skills would help advance her military career and guide her future.

“Right after I graduated college, I was a logistics officer, or maintenance officer, as my primary. I went to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland just outside Baltimore. That’s where I did my officer basic training for maintenance and where I learned about explosions and the different aspects of being a maintenance officer,” she said.

Her first duty station was in Fort Stewart, Georgia, where she was attached to a logistics department for six months. She was deployed to Iraq, where the military base was 50% Marines and 50% Army. She was in charge of maintenance operations for any damaged equipment and had to figure out — with logistics being delayed with parts coming from the states to Iraq — how to take existing equipment and rehab it to get soldiers back on the road.

Though not in combat, her role was essential to protect the soldiers who were. She spent 15 months in Iraq, repairing tanks, guns and other weaponry.

“I did 15 months of that, and then I was able to come back home. It was kind of weird with everyone thanking you, but I was ready to get promoted to captain,” Scott said.

After about five months she was on the move again to captain training course in Fort Lee, Virginia.

“In partnership with the Marines, there was some cross functional learning, and that’s where you kind of pick your specialty within logistics, what you want to focus on. I was interested in air logistics or transportation logistics, so I checked the box for maintenance. I was trying to think of transitioning out to civilian society, what skill set would I want to bring,” Scott said.

After her stint at Fort Lee, she was stationed in Fort Eustace, Virginia, attached to a water logistics company. Six months into her stint, Hurricane Matthew in Port au Prince, Haiti, happened, and her unit was deployed there for humanitarian missions. The water unit’s main focus was helping to rebuild the ports, but her unit was in charge of distribution of rice and water to the Haitian population.

“We had convoys delivering rice and water, and I was in charge of morale. I felt like that wasn’t a real job, so I enlisted the help of the local people. I brought in the Haitian population to kind of do a street fair, and we had an abandoned maintenance motor pool and cleared it all out. It was just a partnership with the Haitian population to bring in some stuff and we could spend our money on postcards and trinkets and stuff, and it got the trust of the Haitian population,” Scott said.

Scott’s training in logistics came into play when she was in charge of plotting out land, making maps and building a base from scratch as new units came to the base.

When she came home after six years of active duty, she transitioned to the Army Reserve because she wanted to start a family. She spent three years in the Reserve even though she said “her heart wasn’t in it” because she missed active duty.

“I met my husband, Terrence Scott, while I was in Iraq. When we got back from Iraq, he stayed for another two years and then he transitioned out. Our lives were just different, and we ended up divorced,” Scott said.

Her first civilian job was with Target distribution center, and she loved it.

“It was very structured; there were military people, people from Somalia, they were building two food distribution centers in Columbus, and since I was from this area of Ohio, I transitioned there,” she said,

She now works at the HomeGoods distribution center in Lordstown, where she soon will mark 10 years.

“They value the same things that I value — safety, integrity, and building a culture that is engaging and welcoming,” she said.