In my humble opinion, you should ideally be using the VA loan at every duty station, sticking around for two years, refinancing, then PCSing and repeating.

Question: will the triplex have positive income after you are forced to PCS with the Navy to a new duty station?

Truth be told, I almost had my first eviction while I was home but like a cat with 9 lives (my tenant is the cat in this case as she has gotten close to being evicted in the past due to nonpayment) my tenant and I went to the local gas station and she took the money out of the ATM to pay me. 

I explained for us a simple house hack at 5% down and managing one tenant was our way of dipping our toe in the investing world in something that seems relatively easy to grasp and manage- we do not want to creatively finance and become the owner of a $600K glass company or a $2M gas station right now.

Eck before leaving our previous duty station (OCONUS) my husband and I were planning to do exactly what you are suggesting with the VA loan and living in the unit.

The new house I want to buy is 30 minutes away, in another county, but I will be working at the same duty station.

I am stationed in japan currently.

The new house I want to buy is 30 minutes away, in another county, but I will be working at the same duty station.

The new house I want to buy is 30 minutes away, in another county, but I will be working at the same duty station.

Our last (and current) station was in FL, so pm me about that...