Ed continued a long line of military service – on both sides of his family – dating from the 1800s. His paternal grandfather fought with the 741st Tank Battalion at Normandy (Omaha Beach) and his great uncle, Eugene B. Sledge, fought in the Pacific Theater and wrote the book, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, which is widely considered one of the greatest war memoirs ever written and was a primary source for the The Pacific miniseries. Before law school, Ed served with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, as an armor platoon leader, infantry mortar platoon leader, assistant battalion operations officer, and battalion logistics officer. A 1995 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Ed attended the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a senior editor of the Alabama Law Review and a member of Order of the Barristers, the Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team, the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board, the Bench & Bar Legal Honor Society, and the Honor Court.