Jacob Kovco

Jacob Kovco
Private Kovco in uniform
Born	(1980-09-25)25 September 1980 Melbourne, Australia
Died	21 April 2006(2006-04-21) (aged 25) Baghdad, Iraq
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	2002–06
Rank	Private
Unit	3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
Battles/wars	Iraq War

Jacob Bruce "Jake" Kovco (25 September 1980 – 21 April 2006) was a private in the Australian Army who died while deployed to Iraq, fatally wounded by a single shot to the head from his own Browning 9mm sidearm. He was the first Australian soldier to die while deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations. A military inquiry found Private Kovco accidentally shot himself while mishandling his pistol. This conclusion was disputed by his family and on 2 April 2008, a second inquest returned a similar verdict, finding that his death was "irresponsibly self-inflicted", and that when he pulled his gun's trigger he "disregarded the possible consequences of danger".

Kovco grew up in Briagolong in Victoria's Gippsland region, east of Melbourne, and completed the Victorian Certificate of Education at Maffra Secondary College in 1998. Before enlisting in the army, he worked in a knackery processing dead livestock. He was a keen mountain bike rider and also raced motorcycles. He was married to Shelley and they had two children, Tyrie and Alana.

Kovco enlisted in the Australian Army in March 2002 and was posted to the School of Infantry, Singleton, in May 2002. After completing his Initial Employment Training as a rifleman, he served in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Australia's airborne battalion. After being posted to the 3rd Batallion, he was trained as a heavy weapons operator before training to become a sniper.

Kovco was deployed to Iraq as part of an ongoing 110-person Security Detachment Iraq protecting Australian officials at the embassy in Baghdad.

Private Kovco died from a single bullet wound to the head while he was in the accommodation barracks shared with two other soldiers soon after he returned from an observation duty. Kovco was immediately taken to a nearby US military hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.