In return, I wouldn’t mind lending a hand in rehab estimates, inspections, or any construction insight you may be searching for. 

The GI Bill is for education, the VA loan is the favorable lending program for veterans.

With that being said, the reason hard and private money exist is because the banks are extremely strict when it comes to lending.

They wanted nothing to do with it due to the environmental risks and even said they would specifically exclude that from any lending. 

Hey Chris,When it comes to lending you're going to need to understand what you want and where you stand.If your credit is good, income is consistent (2 years), income can support the properties, you have a strong DTI ratio, a strong down payment, good reserves, and finally pay your taxes, usually banks are the best way to go for lending.

@Gamaliel M.I have to say I do love my syndication deals.

They probably are more experienced than I plus they have more stringent criteria because they probably syndicated the funds.

What was the lending process like?

@Dmitriy Fomichenko is correct you can convert your current IRA to a SD401K, check book controlled trust account and use those funds to invest in real estate, syndications, as well as gold, notes, and tons of other investments.

More sophisticated techniques such as syndications and private money are beyond the scope of most mom and pop investors, though some do use partnerships.