James was born to Elizabeth and William Smith on the Federated Suns planet of O'Fallon in 2983. O'Fallon was a pretty much idyllic world to grow up on, as it was relatively close to New Avalon, more advanced than many other worlds. A self-sustainable world, with a good sized population, yet not overly crowded world. James' mother, Elizabeth, was a chef by trade, and a pretty good one, she specialized in Germanic and French foods, his father, William, he was a mechanic by trade and owned a small repair shop. rumor has it there wasn't anything that William didn't know how to work on.

James parents worked hard, very hard, as they wanted what was best for their son. They scrimped and saved to send him off to O'Fallon Technical College, as James liked working on things and seemed to have a knack for such things, though he also had a knack for cooking, he preferred fixing things a bit more. At the technical college, he met Jennifer Lang, she was a nursing student, and they both hit it off. As James was nearing the end of his schooling, an AFFS recruiter happened upon campus, attracting his attention. Upon talking to the recruiter, James was asked to take a test to see if he had any military aptitude. James took the test and thought nothing of it, thanking the recruiter and going back to his studies. A few days later the recruiter was back on campus and looking for some of the students, James being one of them. James was given the news he tested out well, very well, and his aptitude was as a mechwarrior, which sort of shook him, as he always thought being a mechwarrior was for others, not him. James was given an offer and he asked to think about it, as he and Jennifer had gotten serious and he was leaning towards marrying her.

They talked that night, for what seemed hours, and some rash decisions were made. James was going to take the AFFS contract, and he was going to marry Jennifer, so they would be together, once he got to his duty station, though that would be 4 long years, it was well worth it. James attended the New Avalon Military Academy, and he pretty much excelled, mostly. Being as he was, on the average, 4 years older than each other cadet, he was the butt of many a joke, but he let it slide, as he had a goal and he really didn't want any trouble. James ended up graduating in the top 10% of his class and was given his choice of postings. Not really knowing much about the various units, beyond what he learned in school, he asked to be posted to the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry, as he just liked the name, so he was. James would never know a happy life, as tragedy struck, actually was forced upon him. Jennifer was taking a commercial jumpship to get to his posting, James parent's tagged along, as they wanted to see their son and give him the good news. You see Jennifer was pregnant, with twins to boot, and they wanted to be there when he learned of this, but he would never find out from them. You see their jumpship was boarded by pirates, and they did many unspeakable things, ultimately killing James family.

James went to the starport, to wait for their arrival when 2 MPs and his unit's XO approached him, this caught his offguard, as his family was late, though the dropship, they were supposed to be on, landed. The XO, a Leftenant Frank Langford, told James what had happened and that his family were amongst the group of passengers that died. Overcome with grief, James legs buckled underneath him and he fell to his knees, tears of grief rolled down his face, his mind raced. The XO had even worse news for James, that his wife was pregnant, though he wouldn't find out until later that she was pregnant with twins.

Leftenant Langford, while a young officer, was good at reading people and he would be credited with saving James from doing something very stupid. Once James got his wits about him, he was hell bent on going after the pirates, at first he tried official routes, his words fell on the deaf ears of the senior leadership, so he was going to do things himself. Leftenant Langford met up with James the day before he was going to go AWOL and they talked, for hours. The Leftenant went as far as to make a promise to James. Finish out this tour, then go, don't reenlist. Do what you have to then, you'll be better prepared if you ever meet up with those pirates, and if you need help I'll fine a way to find you and be there.