James first enlisted in the
Mississippi National Guard in 1983, where he was assigned in medical and
special forces units. After obtaining a degree, he was commissioned into the United States Army in 1990 as an
army aviator. On 15 July 2014, James took command of the
1st Space Brigade. After this command tour, he was assigned as the director of space policy implementation of
Office of the Under Secretary for Policy. After a 2017 reorganization, he then served as the director of operations, plans, and exercises of the
Joint Force Space Component Command. With the creation of the
United States Space Command in August 2019, James became the director of operations while dual-hatted as the first commander of the newly established
Joint Task Force–Space Defense (JTF-SD). After almost two years, he was nominated for promotion to major general. In 2021, he released his vision for the unit. He got promoted on 29 July 2021, making him the first Army
space operations officer to achieve the rank of major general. James relinquished command of JTF-SD on 4 November 2022. He thereafter was assigned as deputy commander of
Combined Joint Task Force-Space Operations, a planned subordinate command of U.S. Space Command. ==Dates of promotion==