Kammala wannan jumla: Dan wani limamin 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 da
Girgizar kasa ta shekarar 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.