Former NBA player Tim James charts new course in Iraq

Tim James used to stay in four-star hotels and ride in luxury SUVs. At the start of a long road trip, a staffer would hand him a per diem check for $1,300.

That’s about half of what he makes an entire month now as a solder in Tikrit, Iraq. A former first-round NBA draft pick, James shares a 500-square foot living space with another soldier and eats plastic-wrapped MREs (ready-to-eat meals) Instead of an SUV he rides in a Humvee. Instead of pregame fireworks, he deals with mortar fire.

“I do get a lot of, ‘What are you doing here?’ ” James said by phone this week.

James, 32, is a member of the Army’s Task Force ODIN, which is short for Observe, Detect, Identify, Neutralize. He’s part of a unit that tries to stifle the enemy’s use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Read more