Hopefully, you have been able to gain more advice since then. 

I think I’m more focused on long term gain, some short term cash flow is nice but I’m not planning to try and live on it or anything.

Tax incentives are just one of many benefits to invest in real estate, but far from the whole purpose.

Pull it out over the next 5 to 10 years as you gain REI experience.  

Not only will you save thousands of $$, you will have control over what is going on and avoid getting taken advantage of.This can also impact tax benefits.  

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

I do not plan on paying interest on the HELOC for more than 2-3 months, so I guess the better question is will my portfolio benefit from acquiring a 4th property by leveraging a cash flowing LTR and therefore increasing the interest rate and lowering the cash flow on that property?

Remember that as a serviceman, you get excellent benefits from the VA loan that can be used to house hack and for investment properties as you can use your allotment on more than one property at a time.

The money from a refinance isn’t considered taxable income because it’s a loan, not a sale or gain.

Also, Credit Card suggestions for best business card for benefits / perks right now?