An alternative I've considered is renting while in CS and buying an area with a lower cost of living in another part of the country, which of course wouldn't allow the VA loan to be used.

Or the alternatives are to receive BSEED tickets, tenants can put rent in escrow, etc.

Alternatively you can hire someone with a broker's license to be your "broker of record" to open your brokerage.

The alternative is to add a new LinkedIn profile dedicated to REI.

My idea for an alternative is to use Bill Pay and just register the CC payment by transferring from the checking account and writing a "check" from the CC account for all the bills paid in that period.  

Banks and alternative lenders (non bank) are a possibility.

There may also be other creative financing alternatives available, such seller financing, partnerships, private money lenders, or utilizing the equity in your current home.Do extensive due diligence to evaluate a multi-family property's finances, condition, rental prospects, and market worth before making an offer.

Considering this constraint, I am contemplating an alternative approach: constructing a fourplex on a suitable piece of land.With a capital investment of 25%, I am curious about the financial viability of this strategy.

As an alternative, would you feel confident retiring on $5k/$10k/or $15k/mo of income that increased about the same as inflation every year?

There are some alternative owner-occupied options to SBA if you don't qualify for it, however it may not be the rate you are looking for.