A former Marine Scout Sniper, Gibbs is portrayed as a consummate organizer, disciplined and demanding of his A-team, often standing between them and pressure from other authorities.
Gibbs' age has never been revealed, but it was shown in the episode "Heartland" that he was born in rural Stillwater, Pennsylvania. His father, Jackson Gibbs, owns a store in the same town. It has been mentioned in the episode "Frame Up" that Gibbs' father was possibly in the U.S. Army Air Force because Gibbs refers to a pin-up on his father's P-51 Mustang. He is apparently named after his father's friend, Leroy Jethro, who was his business partner in the store after having worked together in the coal mines. The younger Gibbs left Stillwater in 1976 at the approximate age of 18 - 20 and, according to his own statements, did not return for over thirty years. In a flashback seen in the episode, Jethro often provoked violence with defiance to his dad, who constantly comes to his unwanted aid with a rifle or shotgun. He was also known among the area as a delinquent, as said by the new sheriff, one of the other delinquents during his teenage years, stating "Funny, never expected to find you on the same other side of the law".
In the episode "Blowback", Gibbs reveals that he is a Virgo.
Gibbs has been married four times and divorced three times. He met his first wife, Shannon, while waiting at the Stillwater Train Platform in 1976, at which point she told him about her rules for life (these would inspire a similar set of rules which he would follow later in life). Shannon, along with their daughter Kelly, were murdered by a Mexican drug dealer while Gibbs was deployed for Operation Desert Storm.[1] Each wife was a redhead, and he once had a romantic relationship with the now deceased director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard, also a redhead. In the first, second and once during the 3rd season, he was seen in the company of a mysterious (and never-identified) redheaded woman.[2] In season four, he had a steady, serious relationship with Army CID agent Lt. Col. Hollis Mann, but their relationship ended at the beginning of season five.
Before the time in which NCIS is set, Gibbs travelled extensively on operations, particularly in Eastern Europe, demonstrated by many flashbacks, many including Director Jenny Shepard.
When a team member succeeds in a particularly clever way, they tend to begin explaining to Gibbs in highly technical language (demonstrating their elite knowledge and capabilities) so that he replies, "Give it to me in English", to get quickly to the point as well as making it accessible to the TV audience.[citation needed]
In the episode "Model Behavior" (and again in "Murder 2.0"), Gibbs is awarded the NCIS Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). At the end of "Murder 2.0", he was awarded his 7th MSM, but like the other 6 times, does not attend the award ceremony, at which Tony accepts the medal on his behalf. When Gibbs shows no interest in it, Tony locks it in a box containing several similar presentation cases, all of which, as mentioned in the same episode by Tony, contain similar kinds of medals awarded to Gibbs. One of these medals is revealed to have been a Silver Star, which Gibbs bestows on Corporal Damon Worth in the episode "Corporal Punishment".
He is a dedicated coffee drinker,[3] a fact played out with his team setting up someone to innocently drink or spill his coffee, incurring Gibbs' ire. In the episode "Forced Entry", when McGee drinks Gibbs' coffee unawares, an on-base security officer explains that rule #23 is "Never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live." At episode's end, Gibbs endows McGee with his coffee as a thank you.
His hobby is woodworking. Gibbs always seems to have a wooden-hulled sailboat under construction in his basement, which he builds entirely by hand using no power tools. In the episode "Tribes," he tells FBI Agent Langer: "Finished it twice. This is number three." It is not revealed what he does with the completed boats, if anything, nor how he could remove the twenty five foot hull from the basement. When asked by McGee, Gibbs cryptically replied "you break the bottle."
One of Gibbs' "trademarks" is that he will often slap the members of his team on the back of the head (a.k.a "dope slap") when displeased with their performance, though he does this mainly to Tony as opposed to other members. When Gibbs "retired", and Tony gained his position as leader for a short while, Tony often slapped the team members in a similar fashion. As revealed by Ducky in the episode "Kill Ari (Part 2)", around ten years ago he was just like DiNozzo. From an exchange with Ducky, one of Gibbs' divorces (ten years earlier) was partly caused by his working on a serial killer case and making it impossible for his wife to stay, but according to Gibbs she was the one who left him. When asked why he slaps his team only on the back of the head Gibbs responded that "a slap to the face would be humiliating, back of the head is a wake up call."[4] At one point he also threatens to slap Abby, though not on the head.[5]
When somebody mentions the loss of children and wives, Gibbs rarely comments although he may react slightly. When Kate was killed, Ducky, who at that point did not know of Shannon and Kelly's story, mentioned that Ari was targeting women and neither of them (Ducky or Gibbs) has ever lost a loved one, to which Gibbs paused and didn't say anything.
Gibbs' age has never been revealed, but it was shown in the episode "Heartland" that he was born in rural Stillwater, Pennsylvania. His father, Jackson Gibbs, owns a store in the same town. It has been mentioned in the episode "Frame Up" that Gibbs' father was possibly in the U.S. Army Air Force because Gibbs refers to a pin-up on his father's P-51 Mustang. He is apparently named after his father's friend, Leroy Jethro, who was his business partner in the store after having worked together in the coal mines. The younger Gibbs left Stillwater in 1976 at the approximate age of 18 - 20 and, according to his own statements, did not return for over thirty years. In a flashback seen in the episode, Jethro often provoked violence with defiance to his dad, who constantly comes to his unwanted aid with a rifle or shotgun. He was also known among the area as a delinquent, as said by the new sheriff, one of the other delinquents during his teenage years, stating "Funny, never expected to find you on the same other side of the law".
In the episode "Blowback", Gibbs reveals that he is a Virgo.
Gibbs has been married four times and divorced three times. He met his first wife, Shannon, while waiting at the Stillwater Train Platform in 1976, at which point she told him about her rules for life (these would inspire a similar set of rules which he would follow later in life). Shannon, along with their daughter Kelly, were murdered by a Mexican drug dealer while Gibbs was deployed for Operation Desert Storm.[1] Each wife was a redhead, and he once had a romantic relationship with the now deceased director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard, also a redhead. In the first, second and once during the 3rd season, he was seen in the company of a mysterious (and never-identified) redheaded woman.[2] In season four, he had a steady, serious relationship with Army CID agent Lt. Col. Hollis Mann, but their relationship ended at the beginning of season five.
Before the time in which NCIS is set, Gibbs travelled extensively on operations, particularly in Eastern Europe, demonstrated by many flashbacks, many including Director Jenny Shepard.
When a team member succeeds in a particularly clever way, they tend to begin explaining to Gibbs in highly technical language (demonstrating their elite knowledge and capabilities) so that he replies, "Give it to me in English", to get quickly to the point as well as making it accessible to the TV audience.[citation needed]
In the episode "Model Behavior" (and again in "Murder 2.0"), Gibbs is awarded the NCIS Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). At the end of "Murder 2.0", he was awarded his 7th MSM, but like the other 6 times, does not attend the award ceremony, at which Tony accepts the medal on his behalf. When Gibbs shows no interest in it, Tony locks it in a box containing several similar presentation cases, all of which, as mentioned in the same episode by Tony, contain similar kinds of medals awarded to Gibbs. One of these medals is revealed to have been a Silver Star, which Gibbs bestows on Corporal Damon Worth in the episode "Corporal Punishment".
He is a dedicated coffee drinker,[3] a fact played out with his team setting up someone to innocently drink or spill his coffee, incurring Gibbs' ire. In the episode "Forced Entry", when McGee drinks Gibbs' coffee unawares, an on-base security officer explains that rule #23 is "Never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live." At episode's end, Gibbs endows McGee with his coffee as a thank you.
His hobby is woodworking. Gibbs always seems to have a wooden-hulled sailboat under construction in his basement, which he builds entirely by hand using no power tools. In the episode "Tribes," he tells FBI Agent Langer: "Finished it twice. This is number three." It is not revealed what he does with the completed boats, if anything, nor how he could remove the twenty five foot hull from the basement. When asked by McGee, Gibbs cryptically replied "you break the bottle."
One of Gibbs' "trademarks" is that he will often slap the members of his team on the back of the head (a.k.a "dope slap") when displeased with their performance, though he does this mainly to Tony as opposed to other members. When Gibbs "retired", and Tony gained his position as leader for a short while, Tony often slapped the team members in a similar fashion. As revealed by Ducky in the episode "Kill Ari (Part 2)", around ten years ago he was just like DiNozzo. From an exchange with Ducky, one of Gibbs' divorces (ten years earlier) was partly caused by his working on a serial killer case and making it impossible for his wife to stay, but according to Gibbs she was the one who left him. When asked why he slaps his team only on the back of the head Gibbs responded that "a slap to the face would be humiliating, back of the head is a wake up call."[4] At one point he also threatens to slap Abby, though not on the head.[5]
When somebody mentions the loss of children and wives, Gibbs rarely comments although he may react slightly. When Kate was killed, Ducky, who at that point did not know of Shannon and Kelly's story, mentioned that Ari was targeting women and neither of them (Ducky or Gibbs) has ever lost a loved one, to which Gibbs paused and didn't say anything.