@It Takes Eleven I'll lay odds there are portions of this story, and it's participants, that are fake.
It's one of those "did this really happen" stories.
I saw a headline about a stripper in Cali that said guys who were about to be deployed were sharing battle plans with her. Now. If I were headed to a strip club and could fit the "bill," I would tell a stripper I was about to be deployed. Better dances. Better service (in most cases.)
If those guys were faking being service in a strip joint, is that stolen valor?