Leestma graduated first in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971. As a [[first lieutenant]] afloat, he was assigned to [[{{USS|Hepburn (|FF-1055)|USS ''Hepburn'' (FF-1055)]]6}} in [[Long Beach, California]], before reporting in January 1972 to the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He completed [[United States Naval Flight Officer training]] and received his [[United States Naval Flight Officer Wings|NFO wings]] in October 1973. He was assigned to [[VF-124]] in [[San Diego, California]], for initial flight training in the [[F-14 Tomcat|F-14A Tomcat]] and then transferred to [[VFA-32|VF-32]] in June 1974 and was stationed at [[Virginia Beach, Virginia]]. Leestma made three overseas deployments to the Mediterranean/North Atlantic areas while flying aboard the [[aircraft carrier]] {{USS|John F. Kennedy (|CV-67)|USS ''John F. Kennedy'']]6}}. In 1977, he was reassigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four ([[VX-4]]) at [[Naval Air Station Point Mugu]], [[California]]. As an operational test director with the F-14A, he conducted the first operational testing of new tactical software for the F-14 and completed the follow-on test and evaluation of new F-14A avionics, including the programmable signal processor. He also served as fleet model manager for the F-14A tactical manual. He has logged over 3,500 hours of flight time, including nearly 1,500 hours in the F-14A. Leestma retired from the Navy as a Captain.
