Xatavia Hughes, an Iraqi war vet is looking for a safer neighborhood for herself and two sons. She is in her current home in the Englewood neighborhood on Nov. 6, 2013. -Chicago Tribune (December 2, 2013)
“One woman saw the military as a stop along the path of higher education. The other saw service as a road out of poverty. They enlisted in what’s typically thought of as a man’s world, and they both died in it. When Pfc. Nichole Frye’s convoy was attacked with a roadside bomb in Baqouba, Iraq, in February, she became the 15th servicewoman to die in the Iraq war, equaling the official number of female soldiers killed in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. When Capt. Gussie Jones, 41, died Sunday of a heart attack in the Baghdad hospital where she served as an Army surgical nurse, that gulf war total was officially surpassed. The conflict in Iraq now has the designation of claiming the lives of more U.S. servicewomen than any hostile theater since World War II, according to Department of Defense statistics. The stories of women like Frye and Jones–what drew them to the military and how they died in that service–reveal much about the role of American military women in Iraq.” -Chicago Tribune (March 11, 2004)
Read more ‘In War Without Front Lines, Women GIs Caught in Chaos’ from the Chicago Tribunehere.
“Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police officers spot Tracy Edwards running down the street in handcuffs, and upon investigation, they find one of the grisliest scenes in modern history: Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment.
A forensic examination of the apartment turned up 11 victims–the first of whom disappeared in March 1989, just two months before Dahmer successfully escaped a prison sentence for child molestation by telling the judge that he was desperately seeking to change his conduct. Dahmer later confessed to 17 murders in all, dating back to his first victim in 1978.”
Investigators Probing Whether Accused Killer Had German Victims With AM-Body Parts, Bjt (AP, July 26, 1991):
“BONN, Germany (AP) – Police across Germany on Friday reopened files of unsolved murders and disappearances, seeking possible links to an accused mass killer in Milwaukee who served with the U.S. Army here. Dahmer was stationed from July 1979 to March 1981 with the 68th Armored Regiment in Baumholder in central Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state, where officials say five unsolved murder cases were being re-examined to seek any connection to Dahmer.
But four of the five murder victims were women, and no links to Dahmer have been made, said Christiana Kleinschmidt, a federal police spokeswoman in Wiesbaden. In addition, federal authorities said they were reviewing all cases of unidentified male murder victims or missing men during the time Dahmer was in Germany. Dahmer joined the Army in 1978 after dropping out of Ohio State University. He was discharged from service early because of alcohol problems.” Read more from AP here.
Little-Known Fact #5 about Dahmer from The Lineup:
#5 He served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army
“In January 1979, Dahmer enlisted in the U.S. Army. He trained as a medical specialist in San Antonio, Texas, and was deployed to Baumholder, West Germany. From 1979 to 1981, Dahmer served as a combat medic, during which time he reportedly raped two soldiers; the first victim claimed Dahmer raped him once after drugging him. The second, who was Dahmer’ roommate, stated that he was raped repeatedly while they shared a living space. Dahmer’s alcoholism followed him to West Germany as well. In 1981, after being declared unsuitable for military service, Dahmer was honorably discharged and sent back to the United States.” Read more from The Lineup here.
Six weeks after the murder of Steven Hicks, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio State University with hopes of majoring in business. However, his alcoholism meant that he only achieved low grades and he dropped out after just three months. In 1979, his father then encouraged him to join the U.S. Army where he trained as a medical specialist.
During his time in the army, two soldiers came forward with claims they had been drugged and raped by Dahmer. In 1981, he was deemed unfit for military service and received an honourable discharge.
Preston Davis, who was in the military service at the same time as Dahmer, recalled, “Jeffrey had killed his first victim a year before joining the military, and he would get drunk in the barracks and say, ‘I killed the guy in Ohio,’ and we’d say, ‘You didn’t kill nobody!’ He became a monster once he started drinking. Alcohol is what turned him into a monster.”[5] Read more from Listverse here.