He finally got back to the front lines, 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 US service member 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.
Leicht’s brothers said 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-foot-5, 200-pound Marine with a soft heart.
But for Leicht, born in a Lemoore, Calif., Navy hospital, the battlefield was the destination. He threw away a college ROTC 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.
