[8] A deeply religious man, he was raised and still is a practicing Catholic,[9] having served as an altar boy during his youth;[10] throughout the series he is often seen wearing a St. Christopher medal, which was given to him by his grandfather before being deployed to Somalia,[11] around his neck.

The extent of their father's abuse was never fully revealed but based on Booth's vague admissions throughout the show and Hank and Marianne's own statements, it was likely that he was also emotionally neglectful of his ex-wife and sons.

In the episode "The Beginning in the End," Booth is approached by a Colonel Pelant and handed a letter from the Secretary of Defense requesting him to return to active duty to train Afghan soldiers at "tracking and apprehending insurgents".

[45] In Season 9, Bones mentions that he does not throw his socks into the hamper after coming home from work so that his feet stay warm, suggesting that he still suffers from the physical ramifications of the torture he endured.

[47][48] As such, he is noticeably affected when investigating cases involving veterans[35][37][43][49][27] and was also implied to have stopped attending unit reunions and gatherings in an effort to distance himself from his painful past in the military.

"[37] In Season 9, when Bones receives a $75,000 advanced check from her book sales and asks Booth what he wants to do with it, he opts to donate it to the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for injured veterans.

In season 10 he suffered a relapse when a case required him to go undercover to infiltrate an underground gaming ring but managed to get it under control again when Brennan forced him to re-attend GA meetings.

[6] He takes his oath and position as a federal agent seriously[61] and holds himself to an equally high standard; he is especially distressed whenever a law enforcement officer is involved[62][63][27] and refuses to participate in cover-ups.

", after shooting and killing a terrorist about to detonate a bomb at a crowded convention center, he refused to accept credit and explains to Bones that he finds "no pleasure in taking someone's life".

[28] There is a running gag in the show where Booth often sarcastically threatens to shoot a squint (especially Hodgins or a "squintern") in exasperation when they start "rambling" or occasionally an uncooperative suspect in the interrogation room.

[68] Despite lacking the academic background of Bones and Sweets, he has been shown repeatedly to possess a natural ability to read people and detect subtle behavioral cues[69][70] and accurately establish motive.

[7] Angela has observed that his ability to "pretend to be stupider than he actually is most of the time" was what made him such a skilled interrogator, as opposed to Bones, whose bluntness often gives a poor first impression and puts people off.

Booth is often frustrated by the scientific and highly technical jargon Bones and the other scientists, and sometimes Sweets, tend to use, as shown when he abruptly cuts them off in the middle of a sentence and tells them to "translate" into layman's terms.

Although lacking the squints' "book smarts", he compensates with his instincts honed from his experience in the FBI,[16][69] as shown by the fact that he is able to accurately guess Bones' top three password choices.

[79] Early in season 8, he was given an opportunity to earn a promotion to an administrative position but passed up the chance in order to help Sweets and rookie agent Olivia Sparling with an emergency situation involving an assassin armed with an explosive.

In the series pilot, Booth was introduced as an FBI special agent in the homicide department who seeks the professional opinion of Dr. Temperance Brennan at the (fictional) renowned Jeffersonian Institute.

Booth is based at the J. Edgar Hoover Building along with his late colleague Dr. Lance Sweets and current partner Special Agent James Aubrey but frequents the Jeffersonian, which he jokingly dubbed "Squint Central",[84] for updates on the evidence and has his own access card.

During the sixth season, while dealing with his complicated relationship with Brennan and his new girlfriend Hannah Burley (Katheryn Winnick), Booth faces his former mentor Jacob Broadsky, a former Army sniper who has apparently gone rogue.

In the Season 9 finale, he was due to be confirmed by Congress as the new head of the Berlin office but his investigation into the Ghost Killer case and the murder of a conspiracy blogger harboring information of a mass blackmail involving cover-ups and corrupt government officials and businessmen led to him being targeted.

However, he was placed on administrative leave when classified information from his service record is exposed by a congressman questioning him, sparking a media frenzy and leading Booth to speculate if he was intentionally nominated for the promotion to be made an example of.

In Season 4, Booth sacrificed credit for a major crime bust and potential promotion to keep Jared from getting arrested after he was caught drunk-driving as another DUI would cost him his Navy career.

Their relationship improved dramatically after Jared steals critical evidence under the pretext of a classified military intelligence operation to assist the Jeffersonian team to rescue Booth from "The Grave Digger", sacrificing his Navy career as a result.

[103] Minor characters constantly mistake Booth and Brennan for an already romantic couple,[93][104] an accusation which they consistently and vehemently deny, although they spend more and more time together outside of work and a sexual attraction between them develops.

When Sweets was observing them and writing a book on their relationship, Dr. Gordon Wyatt noted that Booth and Brennan are actually more similar despite appearing to be polar opposites – both experienced traumatic childhoods, are highly competent in their respective fields and extremely guarded about their personal lives.

In Season 2 his FBI colleague Special Agent Tim "Sully" Sullivan asks him for "advice" on how to woo Bones, Booth tells him simply that he will not "help [him] get my partner into bed".

In the episode "The Boy with the Answer", Booth is confronted with the possibility that Brennan, claiming she is "tired of dealing with murders and victims and sadness and pain", might leave the Jeffersonian permanently.

[107][108] In the Season 9 premiere, Booth confided in his friend Aldo Clemens, a former Army chaplain turned bartender, about Pelant's threat against him and he was having trouble mending his relationship with Brennan.

Aldo presided over the ceremony in the presence of Booth's mother Marianne, grandfather Hank and son Parker, Bones' father Max and their close friends from the Jeffersonian.

[28] Despite his tendency to pull rank on Sweets by making him do undesirable tasks such as paperwork or frequently light-heartedly mock him, he cares deeply for the younger agent[93] and the two have an underlying mutual respect.

[101] Booth is generally wary of most of the "squinterns" due to their eccentric personalities, especially Aubrey's one-time love interest Jessica Warren and Sweets' girlfriend Daisy Wick.