Leroy Gibbs

 A former Marine, coincidentally sharing the Marine Corps birthday of November 10th[citation needed], Gibbs is a consummate organizer, disciplined and demanding of his A-team, often standing between them and pressure from other authorities. Though a demanding boss everyone respects, he takes an interest in their personal struggles and watches over them like a hawk. The team is more like a group of highly-specialized children to his father-figure.[original research?]

Gibbs has been married four times and divorced three times.[citation needed] His first wife, Shannon, along with his daughter Kelly, were murdered.[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 season, he was occasionally seen in the company of a mysterious (and never-identified) redheaded woman.[2]

A couple of very early episodes suggested[improper synthesis?] an attraction existed between Gibbs and the late Caitlin Todd,[1] but any possibility of this going beyond flirting and jokes evaporated when he indicated to her that it was a bad idea for NCIS operatives to have a relationship (a possible reference to Jenny Shepard[original research?]).

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 third season episode "Model Behavior", Gibbs is awarded the NCIS Meritorious Service Medal (MSM), but 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 presumably[original research?] contain similar kinds of medals awarded to Gibbs. One of these medals is revealed[citation needed] to have been a Silver Star, which Gibbs bestows on Corporal Damon Worth in "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 end, Gibbs endows McGee with his coffee as a thank you.

One of the character's "trademarks", Gibbs will often slap the members of his team on the back of the head when displeased with their performance. 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 an episode in Season 3, in his younger years Gibbs was like Tony personality wise.