<P> In the backstory, Gibbs was born on May 2, 1958, (in S3 E8 Under Covers, his birthday falls on the same day as the Marine Corps birthday ball which is held on November 10 every year) and was shown in the episode "Heartland" to have grown up in Stillwater, Pennsylvania . The town is real, and the scenes in the episode were modeled after Bellisario's hometown of Cokeburg . His father, Jackson Gibbs (played by Ralph Waite), owned and ran the Stillwater General Store . He is named after his father's close friend and partner in the store, Leroy Jethro "LJ" Moore, after they worked together in the coal mines (Winslow Mining Company). In "The Namesake", it is revealed that LJ, a World War II veteran and Montford Point Marine, had influenced the teenaged Gibbs to join the Marines . Gibbs left Stillwater in 1976 at age 18 to join the Marine Corps and did not return for over thirty years . In a flashback scene in the episode, as a teenager, Gibbs often provoked violence with defiance to his father, who constantly comes to his unwanted aid with a Winchester rifle or shotgun . He was also known around 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 side of the law ." He met his first wife Shannon (portrayed by both Darby Stanchfield and Aviva Baumann), who worked at the local department store, when both were teenagers . Shannon and Gibbs spoke to each other for the first time while waiting for a train, and Shannon mentioned she had thought about creating a set of life rules for herself; Gibbs later incorporated this idea into his own series of around fifty rules that he now uses for his profession (with the rules in the forties and above constituting emergency situations), with Shannon quietly sneaking in a fifty - first rule to remind him he's not infallible . In subsequent episodes, Gibbs is known by his first name Leroy to family and people in his hometown, whereas at work he is known as Jethro or "Boss". </P> <P> Gibbs' mother, Ann, is introduced in "Life Before His Eyes", the 200th episode . She was a redhead, like all of Gibbs' wives . While she was dying of cancer, she committed suicide by overdose so her family would not have to watch her suffer ("The Namesake"). </P> <P> Gibbs enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1976 and was a military police non-commissioned officer at Camp Lejeune before becoming a Scout Sniper . He served on tours of duty in Panama (Operation Just Cause) and with the 1st Battalion 1st Marines in the Persian Gulf (Operation Desert Storm). In the season 6 episode "Deliverance", it is revealed that he was also deployed to Colombia on a classified mission . Not long after returning from the Gulf, he retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of Gunnery Sergeant and joined the Naval Investigative Service (as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was then called) in August 1991 . As a junior agent, Gibbs was mentored by Mike Franks, and the two became close friends; Franks continued calling him "Probie" even after retirement . After Franks retired, Gibbs rose to become head of his own Major Case Response Team . Before the time in which NCIS is set, Gibbs was described to have traveled extensively on operations, particularly in Eastern Europe . </P> <P> Gibbs is a highly skilled marksman with both his agency - issued SIG Sauer P228 and a sniper rifle . In the season 7 premiere, "Truth or Consequences", he kills the terrorists holding his team hostage from an exceptionally long distance and in "South by Southwest" he outshoots a professional hit - man in an approaching helicopter . His knowledge of the Marine Corps and training as a sniper often comes into use, as shown in the episodes "Ravenous", "Vanished" and "Twenty Klicks" where he uses his wilderness tracking skills and marksmanship to aid the investigation and / or get the team out of trouble . </P>

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