Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - An haifi Swift a Fort Laramie, Wyoming, ɗan Manjo Janar Eben Swift da Susan Palmer. Ya kammala karatunsa daga West Point a 1904 kuma an ba shi izini a cikin sojan doki. Ya yi aiki a matsayin mai taimakawa ga Janar John J. Pershing a Philippines
sannan ya yi aiki a Mexico. Yayinda yake kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan kwamandan C, 13th Cavalry, ya bi kwamandan kwamandan George S. Patton a kan farautar Julio Cardenas, kwamandan mai tsaron gidan Pancho Villa. A lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na I ya yi aiki a matsayin Mataimakin Shugaban Ma'aikata na 86th Division.