Seeley Joseph Booth was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was a firefighter and medic in the United States Army Reserve, while his mother was a copy editor for a newspaper. After graduating from high school, Booth went on Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Upon graduating from Penn State with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, he enlisted in the United States Army.
After basic combat training and then infantry advanced individual training, Booth was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division as an infantryman in a rifle platoon within C Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. A little while later, he attended the U.S. Army Air Assault School. After attending the U.S. Army Sniper School, Booth was assigned as a sniper to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment.
He later attended the U.S. Army Airborne School and then Ranger indoctrination training. Afterwards, Booth was assigned to the sniper section of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Soon after, he attended and passed the U.S. Army Ranger School, earning the Ranger Tab. As a sniper in the 2nd Ranger Battalion, Booth eventually rose to the position of a sniper team leader.
With numerous commendations, he left the Army after eight years of service and then applied to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Before he could join the Bureau, Booth had to go through the FBI application and hiring process, which included a physical fitness test, a background investigation, and a medical examination. After his successful completion of the hiring process, he went on to attend the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Upon graduating from the Academy, Booth was sworn in as a Special Agent and assigned to the Los Angeles Field Office as a member of a violent crime squad.
Three years later, he was transferred to the Washington Field Office. Shortly afterwards, Booth was made the official FBI liaison to the Medico-Legal Lab at the Smithsonian Institution. In that capacity, he works alongside forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan and her team of forensic specialists to solve homicides in which the remains of the victims are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard methods of identifying the body and/or cause of death are useless.
Dr. Brennan and her team provides scientific expertise to read clues left behind in the victim's bones and Special Agent Booth provides his criminal investigation expertise, allowing them to catch murderers that no one else can catch.
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- A version of this character appears on the FOX television series, Bones.