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HMeQzb
HMeQzb
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ALUMPROFILE<br />
Serving his country at<br />
the State Department<br />
Patrick Ball is with<br />
U.S. Secretary of<br />
State John Kerry on a<br />
2013 visit to Amman,<br />
Jordan.<br />
A career with the Foreign Service in the U.S.<br />
Department of State may look glamorous and<br />
exotic to many. Worldwide travel. Governmentpaid<br />
housing. Generous pay and benefits. But<br />
in some instances, according to the department<br />
itself, working as a foreign service officer can be<br />
very challenging and sometimes even dangerous.<br />
As a foreign service officer, “you can expect<br />
to be assigned to hardship posts,” says the<br />
State Department. “You may face an irregular<br />
or extended work schedule. These posts can<br />
be in remote locations, without many U.S.-<br />
style amenities; there can be sporadic power<br />
outages, unreliable Internet service, etc. Health<br />
and sanitation standards can be far below<br />
U.S. standards. And some assignments are<br />
‘unaccompanied,’ which means family<br />
members may not travel to the post<br />
with you.”<br />
But for Patrick Ball, an alumnus<br />
of The Grosse Pointe Academy<br />
and a foreign service officer in<br />
the State Department, just like<br />
all of his previous posts, he is<br />
relishing his next one, which<br />
begins in August in Iraq.<br />
“I am very much looking<br />
forward to my assignment in<br />
Baghdad, and I expect that it<br />
will be both a challenging and<br />
rewarding experience,” he said.<br />
Challenging and<br />
rewarding. It appears that<br />
Ball likely has never run from<br />
the former and because of<br />
that, he’s been able to enjoy a<br />
career thus far characterized<br />
by much of the latter, even<br />
though he’s still a relatively<br />
young man.<br />
22 FALL 2015 / THE ACADEMIC