James R. Jordan
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James R. Jordan, (born 1957), was the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps. He made headlines on November 28, 2004, when he announced that he planned to stay in Iraq with his unit, despite the fact that he had passed his mandatory retirement date. He is also the brother of basketball great Michael Jordan.
Named after his father, Jordan grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan was active in the JROTC organization in high school, and joined the Army in 1974 at the age of seventeen.
While his brother became a celebrity playing for the NBA's Chicago Bulls, James soldiered on in relative obscurity. He made it a point not to speak much about his brother to fellow soldiers, afraid that his presence as Michael Jordan's brother would affect the other soldiers' concentration on their jobs. He also wanted to show other soldiers that he did not deserve special treatment from anyone. His brigade commander, Colonel Bryan Ellis, described Jordan as "completely selfless."
On July 23, 1993, his father, James Jordan, was murdered in a Lumberton, North Carolina highway rest area by Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery, who allegedly wanted to steal James Sr.'s Lexus sports coupe.
After reaching 30 years of service, Jordan was slated to retire from active duty on April 29, 2005. But Jordan told a Fayetteville Observer newspaper reporter that he planned to stay in Iraq beyond that date. The news broke out immediately, and Jordan became known across his home country.
Jordan accompanied his unit on one more year-long tour in Iraq, and retired April 13, 2006.
