i want to buy a retirement home with self directed ira funds. how can i do this without taking the money out and paying tax on the withdrawal amount?

All of what Vaugh said with the addition of:How quickly do you send inspectors for a draw request and how soon after completed inspection will I receive the funds wired to my account.I have worked with several and most will give similar rates/points.

- How fast can you fund? 

Mutual funds, man.

I'm not a one dimensional investor whether its funding, deal finding, renovations or anything else I'm always eager to learn.

One way to go is a home equity loan and use those funds to repair you house and, hopefully, the rent you could pay that debt with rent money. 

They can usually offer better programs including 203k which will provide some funding for rehab. 

I see my six isn't sufficient. 

I am currently stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and plan on investing in buy and hold investing anywhere from San Antonio to Austin, being deployed I have found a few like minded people who also want to get into investing and we have discussed everything from finding deals to funding them to forming LLC's as a safety net, but the first question that always comes up is where to start when we get back.

You Can Catherine but you will come up invariably upon the Self Sufficiency Rule (or SS Rule).