While still on active duty, you have BAH which can be put towards a mortgage just as easily as rent. 

The key question is are the investors actively engaged in managing the property? 

We are discussing the no cash flow, no appreciation, no value add, active real estate investing strategy.

There are approximately two million active real estate licenses in the U.S. 

In Indianapolis and Kansas City where I'm active for instance, this would be a D class neighborhood.

I’ve been in the Marines for 18 years, mix of active duty and reserves.

Any contributions you make to the LLC in the form of capital contributions should be recorded as owner transfers and transactions should be limited to business expenses and activity only in order to maintain the liability protections.

How active do you want to be in REI?

However, I would love to find a mentor - someone who has done 100+ deals, knows the current market or is actively investing still that I can learn from and bounce questions off of.

The first pillar is avoiding unnecessary and risky activities (don't drink and drive, insurance generally won’t cover your poor decisions) and take good care of your investments - these simple steps will help you prevent lawsuits before they even occur.