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New JAG Brings Diverse Experience to NPS' Complex Mission
U.S. Navy photo by PO1 Lewis Hunsaker

New JAG Brings Diverse Experience to NPS' Complex Mission

By PO1 Lewis Hunsaker

NPS Staff Judge Advocate Capt. Pamela Ball is pictured at her desk in the Legal Office, Oct. 21. Ball may be new to NPS, however, she brings 28-years of experience in the legal field with previous duty stations in California, Virginia, Washington D.C., Florida and Washington state and overseas tours in Spain, Guam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

"I'm very glad to be here at NPS. The leadership here has been very wonderful and easy to work with and I enjoy being part of the NPS team," said Ball.

Starting back in high school, Ball wanted to be a police officer so she went to college with that mindset. However, in college, her advisor convinced her to seek a career as a probation officer due to a police officer drawdown at the time.

"In my senior year of college I was doing an internship with a juvenile probation center and I made the decision that I didn't want to a probation officer either," said Ball.

After reviewing her options, she pursued graduate school at Michigan State in the Criminal Justice master's program. There she completed an internship at a recorder's court in Detroit that truly sparked her interest.

"So I had to decide if I wanted to go into the military or a career in Law," said Ball. "After a few interviews with the military, I decided to take the military path."

Ball was commissioned into the judge advocate general's corps in 1988 and attended the Naval Justice School in 1989. She began her career as a defense counsel, prosecutor and legal assistance attorney at the Naval Legal Service Office Detachment in Rota, Spain followed by assignments aboard submarine tenders USS Proteus (AS 19) and USS Holland (AS 32) and later earned a master's of law degree at George Washington School of Law, specializing in health care law.

Her operational experience includes tours to Iraq supporting the Task Force 134 detainee operations and Afghanistan were she served as a legal mentor for the staff judge advocate office and judiciary of the 201st Afghan Nation Army Corps.

"I volunteered for both the Iraq and Afghanistan tours. As a lawyer, we are usually not required to volunteer for these tours. However, I looked at it as an opportunity to get out into the field, while supporting these countries in establishing their law practices,” said Ball. “Which in return was a great experience to see how other countries live and to appreciate what we have here in the United States."

Before coming to NPS, Ball was the military international law professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Strategic Studies.

"I look forward to my time at NPS and establishing new connections here and at DLI," added Ball.
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