Command Sergeant Major Ball enlisted in the United States Army in December 1983 and completed training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  After Basic, he was the first Soldier selected for the Enlisted Club Manger “Stripes for Skills” Program, MOS, OOJ. He was contractually promoted to Staff Sergeant upon completion of the Army’s Club Management Course and sent to Supreme HQ’s Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Belgium in 1984. He re-classed to MOS 94B (now 92G), due to the elimination of MOS OOJ. After reclass training he served as the Enlisted Aide for General Bernard Rogers, Commander of Supreme Allied Command Europe (SACEUR).

Command Sergeant Major Ball was selected to serve as a Drill Sergeant and graduated from Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1991. Following Drill Sergeant duty he volunteered for Airborne duty and was sent to the newly formed Southern Europe Task Force (SETAF) (Separate), (Provisional), Infantry Brigade, in Vicenza, Italy in 1994. Other assignments included deployment to Kigali, Rwanda in support of Operation Support Hope; Operation Joint Endeavor, Bosnia; 1st Armored Division Artillery, Smith Barracks, Baumholder, Germany; Fort Lee, Virginia where he served as the Directorate of Training (DOT) Sergeant Major within the Army Center of Excellence – Subsistence (ACES) and Command Sergeant Major of the 262d Quartermaster Battalion. After his assignment as the 262d QM Battalion CSM, he served as the first CSM for the newly formed Theater Support Command at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California.

Command Sergeant Major Ball’s military education culminated at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, Class 50. His highest award is the Legion of Merit.