Military member new to Bigger Pockets from Charleston, SC.

I'm a US Navy Officer approaching retirement.  Real Estate investing has been a passion of mine since 2003.  With little knowledge, I started my investing career by serial home-buying.  I didn't know that much, and bought at market value in 2004 and 2005, but I've managed to hold them both until now, and will likely keep them forever.  I took it on the chin for several years while the market shrunk and corrected itself, and am sitting well now.  Since the first two, I refocused on my military career and unfortunately let me investing dreams go stale.  I discovered Bigger Pockets a while back, and have been absorbing information like a sponge.  I plan to build my portfolio with a combination of flips and rentals.  Ultimately, I'd like to get into multi-family, eventually morphing my company (when I establish one) into a fully functional Real Estate company (acquisition, rehab, management, brokerage, and ultimately finance).  I'm looking to make contacts in support of that goal, and build relationships.