I will and may upgrade at a later date, but want advice as I am usually deployed overseas and think a pm might be the way to go for this first rental. 

Being deployed I would assume turnkey rentals but let us know and we can be more specific

(would have to relocate from San Diego) where I would have to rent a place to live, my husband will be remaining in the home in San Diego until he deploys in the fall, but I want to make sure we are not violating anything by also renting a place in L.A.

Even if you're planning on doing repairs, showings, leases, and all that jazz yourself, deployments are a thing and you'll want to have access to folks who can take care of things while you're away if they pop up. 

We saved up extra pays from military deployments, cashed out stocks and mutual funds, When we got a promotion, we set aside the funds over the old salary for a deposit. 

If you deploy save your pennies for investing not toys.

You will need "boots on the ground" when you are deployed. 

The only thing I would throw in there is making sure your OOC duplex can be leveraged out and still pay for itself (all operating expenses included) while you have that cash deployed. 

Do a couple of math examples and compare your rate of return, factor in potential appreciation (its a bonus but dont let it rule your decision making process) for example house A costs 100k brings a 8% annual ROIHouse B costs 50k but brings a 11% ROIthen the answer becomes obvious, you want to deploy 100k into 2 of house B.

She is active Idaho National Guard Reserves, and is being deployed 5/8.