Spc. Jacob Pfaff was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but grew up in Brunswick, Maine where he graduated high school. Pfaff joined the army in May 2013 as a Black Hawk helicopter repairer. He completed basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. His duty Stations include Fort Bliss, Texas and Camp Humphreys, South Korea and is currently assigned as a member of the U.S. Army Warrior Fitness team at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 2017, Pfaff volunteered to attend Special Forces Assessment and Selection at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Pfaff’s fitness career started from a young age. Growing up he played soccer and in high school switched over to football. In high school, he was recognized as an all-state player and his senior year his team played in the state championships. After high school, Pfaff took up powerlifting until he eventually joined the Army, where he a good friend introduced him to CrossFit. As a CrossFit athlete, Pfaff was part of the GRID league on the Los Angeles Reign team. In 2017, Pfaff competed at the south regionals on a team from El Paso, Texas. The next year, he competed as an individual at the Pacific Regionals held in Sydney, Australia, while he was stationed in South Korea. Pfaff also competed at the first Rogue Invitational in 2019 and where he placed 12th out of 20 of the top CrossFit athletes in the sport.
His military awards include two Army Good Conduct Medals and the Expert Marksmanship badge.