Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Dan wani malamin soja na Amurka, Groves ya zauna a wurare daban-daban na Sojoji a lokacin yaro. A shekara ta 1918, ya kammala karatunsa na huɗu a aji a Jami'ar Sojojin Amurka a West Point kuma an ba shi izini a cikin Rundunar Injiniya ta Amurka. A cikin 1929, ya tafi Nicaragua a matsayin wani ɓangare na balaguro don gudanar da binciken don Canal na Nicaragua na Inter-Oceanic. Bayan girgizar kasa ta 1931
, Groves ya karɓi tsarin samar da ruwa na Managua, wanda aka ba shi lambar yabo ta shugabancin Nicaragua. Ya halarci Makarantar Kwamandan da Janar a Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a 1935 da 1936; da Kwalejin Yaƙin Soja a 1938 da 1939, bayan haka aka tura shi zuwa Babban Jami'in Ma'aikatar Yaƙi. Groves ya sami "suna a matsayin mai aikatawa, direba, kuma mai bin doka" kuma a 1940 ya zama mataimaki na musamman don gini ga Quartermaster General, wanda aka ɗora masa alhakin duba wuraren gine-gine da kuma duba ci gaban su. A watan Agustan 1941, an nada shi don ƙirƙirar babban ofishin ofishin ma'aikata 40,000 na Ma'aikatar War wanda zai zama Pentagon.