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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

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