![\"Deserea](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Deserea-Hopkins-with-SSG-rank.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nDuring the holidays people in general like to read heartwarming stories about people overcoming hardships and tragedies. The same goes for reporters and writers when there is a chance to capture<\/a> one on paper<\/a>. So when a Soldier, Staff Sergeant Deserea Hopkins, was willing to talk about being home for Christmas for the first time in three years due to deployments, it did not take much for this story to go viral in the internet age. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been on two deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. We actually had to go and kick down doors do all the dirty work. Go make arrests. I really just missed my family, mainly,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe military was my life; that\u2019s all I know, but I\u2019m more than happy to be a single mom to my kids,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Hopkins\u2019 kids stayed with her grandparents while she was away. This will be her first Christmas with her three-year-old son, Paiden. But, her six-year-old daughter Precious remembers the Christmases without her mom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Except that the story was not exactly true as the good people at Guardians of Valor<\/a> are happy to show. Lots of good things in there; entry level separation,arrest records<\/a> and the standard abuse of AR-670-1 seen by most posers. <\/p>\n According to our friends at GoV;<\/p>\n Official US Army Response:<\/p>\n Rank: Private.<\/p>\n Home of Record: Mount Pleasant, Texas.<\/p>\n Service: October-December 2011.<\/p>\n Entry level discharge at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n No MOS and no awards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But the real victim here is her six year old child who was quoted in the story. <\/p>\n Hopkins\u2019 kids stayed with her grandparents while she was away. This will be her first Christmas with her three-year-old son, Paiden. But, her six-year-old daughter Precious remembers the Christmases without her mom. I mean, having to explain to your kid that you are a fraud and a liar is going to be fun. But what will be worse is having to hear it as a kid from your mother. But stolen valor is just a victimless crime, right? <\/p>\n This sounds like a promising candidate for the new stolen valor act that Texas has recently approved this year<\/a>. <\/p>\n UPDATE: December 29th 2015<\/p>\n KLTV has updated their story to reflect with what information we already know<\/a>. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt’s sad ’cause I love my mom so much,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cShe’s excited; she’s like ‘Mom are you gonna go?’ and I’m like ‘No, I’m here,\u2019\u201d Hopkins said.
\nBut Precious knew what her mom was doing.
\n\u201cShe told me when she was a soldier and would protect everybody,\u201d Precious said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hopkins-232x300.jpg\")
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