I make about $75K/year and will probably end up with around $70K after closing costs on the house.My question is two parts, do I need to do a 1031, or is there another tax exclusion since I would never meet the residence exemption due to the military moving me? 

@Sandra Regnell hate to be the bearer of bad news, but animal damage is a standard exclusion on most insurance policies. 

A few years later, I showed him my credentials again and ended up working for his company exclusively for the next 19 years (until I retired).

One thing to look into is if you quality for the section 121 exclusion ( as this house was you residence for 2 of the last 5 years, at least until January 2020). 

I understand the exclusion of the W2s being excluded if my business was the one issuing them - but the W2s are from completely unrelated businesses.

Insurance issues, you can’t declare homestead for an LLC, you lose your section 121 exclusion for taxes on profit, assuming you live there for st least 2 years and rent it for less than 3 years before selling, etc.

During that time, he or she keeps exclusive right of possession and the right of redemption, meaning that the lender cannot sell the property's legal title unless the borrower defaults or they agree on the sale."

Not the "exclusive for Lowe's" line, but the regular line.

Minneapolis/ saint paul proper will almost all be exclusively 1920 and older.

We do almost exclusively large-scale, complete gut re-habs on our rentals so a crazy amount of dust, dirt and general yuck.