James graduated from Mt. Eden High School in 1999 and attended college at the Art Institute of San Francisco, with an Associate’s Degree in Computer Animation. He began looking for a job as a computer animator just in time for the dot com bust. After no success finding employment in the field, he enlisted in the Army in June of 2003 under the 18X Special Forces Enlistment Program.

After earning his Green Beret, Grissom was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st SFG (A) JBLM. During this time, He deployed on several JCETs (Joint Combined Exchange Training), He and his team deployed to Iraq in 2009. Grissom was re-assigned to assist in bringing 4th Battalion up in Nov. 2010. His methods to track and account for all items used by his team was noticed by his command. His methods were shared with other teams and became the standard.

Grissom was assigned as an engineer sergeant to Company A, 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), JBLM, and was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan in 2012.

On March 18th or 2013 SFC James F Grissom was wounded by small arms fire. He died March 21, 2014 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.