James Kuroiwa was born and raised on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. He attended two years of Air Force ROTC at the University of Hawaii, and after graduating he enlisted in the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, a strategic reserve unit in Honolulu. He went to basic training at Fort Ord, California, and was selected for a week of special leadership training. Three weeks later he was promoted to sergeant first class. For mortar training he was given a field manual, and taught himself fire direction control. Upon arriving in Vietnam, Kuroiwa was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry in I Corps. His first job was to train a "four-deuce" (M2 4.2-inch mortar) battery to convert to 81 millimeter mortars so they could be airmobile. Kuroiwa discusses chess, fire missions, R&R at Eagle’s Beach and Hong Kong, operations in the A Shau Valley with the 101st Airborne and later near Da Nang with the Americal Division, chili rice, MEDCAPs, and getting a slot on his high school basketball team because Eric Shinseki spent his junior year of high school as an exchange student in New Jersey.