James enlisted in the United States Air Force at 19 years old. His service took him to Germany, South Korea, Japan and Qatar. While living abroad he has traveled and visited over two dozen countries. While in the service he wrote technical training manuals, briefings for upper command officials, and reports for military publications. He left the service in 2008 taking a Systems Analyst IT job in Okinawa for two years. He currently works at the Yokosuka Naval Base Japan providing IT tech support for a Naval Training Command. He is married and has one son.