1,000th GI Killed in Afghanistan Was on 2nd Tour
The 1,000th American serviceman killed in Afghanistan was born on the Fourth of July. He died several days before Americans honor fallen troops on Memorial Day.
Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht was killed Thursday when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province that ripped off his right arm. It was the 24-year-old Texan's second deployment overseas.
Leicht had begged to return to the battlefield after a bomb took out his Humvee in Iraq. He spent two painful years recovering from face and leg injuries, all the while pining for combat in letters from his hospital bed.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
He finally got back to the front lines in southern Afghanistan, but was killed less than a month into the tour of duty he desperately wanted.
"He said he always wanted to die for his country and be remembered," said Jesse Leicht, his younger brother. "He didn't want to die having a heart attack or just being an old man. He wanted to die for something."
An Associated Press tally shows Leicht is the 1,000th U.S. serviceman killed in the Afghan conflict. The first death - nearly nine years ago - was also a soldier from the San Antonio area.
The AP bases its tally on Defense Department reports of deaths suffered as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan.
Other news organizations count deaths suffered by service members assigned elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes operations in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Leicht's brothers told the AP the military also told the family that his death put the toll at 1,000.
When military officers went to tell Leicht's parents their adopted son had died in combat, sheriff's deputies had to help navigate them to the 130-acre family ranch tucked deep in the Texas Hill Country.
It was here that Jacob Leicht chopped thick cedar trees and hiked the rugged limestone peaks, growing up into an imposing 6-5, 200-pound Marine with a soft heart. He watched "Dora the Explorer" with his brother's children and confided to family that he was troubled by the thought of young civilians being killed in battle.
But for Leicht, born in a Lemoore, California, Navy hospital, the battlefield was the destination. He threw away a college Reserve Officerrs' Training Corps scholarship after just one semester because he feared it would lead away from the front lines.
"His greatest fear was that they would tell him he would have to sit at a desk for the rest of his life," said Jonathan Leicht, his older brother.
When Jacob Leicht's wish finally came true, it didn't last long.
His first deployment was to Iraq in 2007, but he was there just three weeks when Jesse Leicht said his brother drove over two 500-pound bombs beneath the road.
One detonated, the other didn't. The blast tore through the Humvee, shooting the radio into Leicht's face and knocking him unconscious. He felt something pinch his thumb, and the gunner's face was filleted so badly by shrapnel that medics couldn't keep water in his mouth.
None of the five people inside the vehicle died. Jesse Leicht said an Iraqi interpreter, the only one on board who wasn't seriously injured, dragged his brother from the mangled vehicle. The blast snapped Jacob Leicht's fibula and tibula, and the recovery was an agonizing ordeal of pins and rods and bolts drilled into his bones.
But all Jacob Leicht could think about was going back. He launched a campaign for himself at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, writing letters and making phone calls about returning to combat. More than two years later, he was finally healthy enough to serve again.
Nine days before his brother stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan, Jesse Leicht enlisted in the Marines. Using Facebook to reach a friend stationed not far from his brother, Jesse asked the soldier a favor: If you see Jacob, let him know I signed up like him.
"Hopefully," Jesse Leicht said, "he got the word."
By Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht was killed Thursday when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province that ripped off his right arm. It was the 24-year-old Texan's second deployment overseas.
Leicht had begged to return to the battlefield after a bomb took out his Humvee in Iraq. He spent two painful years recovering from face and leg injuries, all the while pining for combat in letters from his hospital bed.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
He finally got back to the front lines in southern Afghanistan, but was killed less than a month into the tour of duty he desperately wanted.
"He said he always wanted to die for his country and be remembered," said Jesse Leicht, his younger brother. "He didn't want to die having a heart attack or just being an old man. He wanted to die for something."
An Associated Press tally shows Leicht is the 1,000th U.S. serviceman killed in the Afghan conflict. The first death - nearly nine years ago - was also a soldier from the San Antonio area.
The AP bases its tally on Defense Department reports of deaths suffered as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan.
Other news organizations count deaths suffered by service members assigned elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes operations in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Leicht's brothers told the AP the military also told the family that his death put the toll at 1,000.
When military officers went to tell Leicht's parents their adopted son had died in combat, sheriff's deputies had to help navigate them to the 130-acre family ranch tucked deep in the Texas Hill Country.
It was here that Jacob Leicht chopped thick cedar trees and hiked the rugged limestone peaks, growing up into an imposing 6-5, 200-pound Marine with a soft heart. He watched "Dora the Explorer" with his brother's children and confided to family that he was troubled by the thought of young civilians being killed in battle.
But for Leicht, born in a Lemoore, California, Navy hospital, the battlefield was the destination. He threw away a college Reserve Officerrs' Training Corps scholarship after just one semester because he feared it would lead away from the front lines.
"His greatest fear was that they would tell him he would have to sit at a desk for the rest of his life," said Jonathan Leicht, his older brother.
When Jacob Leicht's wish finally came true, it didn't last long.
His first deployment was to Iraq in 2007, but he was there just three weeks when Jesse Leicht said his brother drove over two 500-pound bombs beneath the road.
One detonated, the other didn't. The blast tore through the Humvee, shooting the radio into Leicht's face and knocking him unconscious. He felt something pinch his thumb, and the gunner's face was filleted so badly by shrapnel that medics couldn't keep water in his mouth.
None of the five people inside the vehicle died. Jesse Leicht said an Iraqi interpreter, the only one on board who wasn't seriously injured, dragged his brother from the mangled vehicle. The blast snapped Jacob Leicht's fibula and tibula, and the recovery was an agonizing ordeal of pins and rods and bolts drilled into his bones.
But all Jacob Leicht could think about was going back. He launched a campaign for himself at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, writing letters and making phone calls about returning to combat. More than two years later, he was finally healthy enough to serve again.
Nine days before his brother stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan, Jesse Leicht enlisted in the Marines. Using Facebook to reach a friend stationed not far from his brother, Jesse asked the soldier a favor: If you see Jacob, let him know I signed up like him.
"Hopefully," Jesse Leicht said, "he got the word."
By Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber
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Even though, Iran has been acknowledged by the US and the UN as assisting the Pakistanis efforts to expel any Taliban from that country.
Between the banks, the oil companies, and the war profiteers getting away scot free with various attacks on America, not to forget Bush's acts of treason going unpunished, one wonders why they even take the trouble to lie about it anymore.
Too bad the soldiers are dying to defend lies.
Despite his wish, in the end he died for nothing anyway.
At least if he'd had a heart attack, then he wouldn't have died with the blood of innocent people on his hands.
Obamie has 60 days (aug 2010) to have all troops out of Iraq, or once again he will have welched on his "word".
You should be happy, you and your ilk worship death and destruction, you supported it during Bush, so every extra day that Obama takes to complete the job should be a source of joy and happiness for you.
But we all know what this is really about for your kind...
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The lad got his wish... He died so a Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle... Dick Cheney or Barack Obama could be spared to live on and cheerlead some future war.
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Thank God for the volunteer military, so mainstream America doesn't have to get involved.
Wow, that's closely approaching the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
P.S. Right on, wyodutch.
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America loves a good war... as long as its the neighbors kids fighting and dieing in it.
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Want to end the wars? Simple. Just start drafting the average American kid and his family will be marching on Washington... pitchfork in one hand.. torch in the other.
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We are... after all... a nation of cowardly hypocrites.