Seeking advice on the right strategy

[Ken Vingua]

This post is for me to ask the BP community for advice on how to reach my current goals. 
Background: I am an active duty Marine officer and have been in the military for almost 15 years now.  I plan to retire from the Marines 7 years from now and wish to be "financially free" that day.  I want to generate enough passive income to more than compensate for my 60% reduction in pay when I retire.  That should be around $4000 per month. 
I currently own 4 cash flowing rentals.  I have some liquid capital and about $200k equity in one of my homes.  My VA loan is occupied by one of the 4 rentals. I currently live in Oceanside, CA but am focusing my property searches in SW Chicago suburbs and Atlanta.  Both areas I have a team that I am working with and can handle rehabs and rentals.  I am not opposed to working locally or in other parts of the country. 
While I have gained some experience with the rentals that I have, I am a bit of an accidental investor since I bought most of these to live in and rented them out when I relocated.  I have been obsessively educating myself on becoming a legitimate investor and am looking to aggressively work towards my goals. I spend about 50% of my time away from home in sandy places with no connectivity to the real world.  Time is the biggest enemy in working towards my goals.  My wife is a stay at home mom who is looking to get herself involved in the investing process with me. 
I am hoping the community can help me to bring focus to my plan.  What would be the best strategy for me to generate the necessary passive income in 7 years? I will appreciate any advice that you fellow members are willing to provide. 

[Arpan Patel]

I would say to continue the buy and hold strategy. There was a recent podcast about a vet who got started while he was on active duty and built his business both while he was at home and when he was on tour. That maybe of some use to you; furthermore, I know Chicago South Suburbs pretty well and I know there are good deals to be had if you have the right boots on the ground. A good Realtor will be invaluable for you as will your property manager. I love the BRRRR strategy and recomend it all the time. There are ways to be able to manage the rehab from afar but maybe you can pay your realtor to manage the construction? Just a thought but that was also on a recent podcast about a guy who partners with realtors across America to run rehab (flip) projects. Maybe look into that as well? You could also just save and buy ready to go property turn key and retain the sellers as property managers. There are many good outfits in Chicago who do only that. PM me and I can flesh out some of these ideas and maybe others about how to proceed forward if you'd like. Good luck and thank you for your service!!