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The Barraza Life Plan

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Personal Mission Control · Prepared July 25, 2026

Get Your Life
Back In Order.

Pilot certs. Real money. A plane with the kids in it. A body that holds up, a family with a foundation — and every benefit you earned, actually collected.

Luis Barraza · 100% P&T · Blue belt · 100 flight hours · Family of six
01 · The Asset Inventory

You're not starting from zero.
You're starting from here.

The floor — forever
$4,713/mo
100% P&T compensation, tax-free. $56.5k a year before you lift a finger.
Family education fund
~$225k
Chapter 35 — $1,574/mo × 36 months for Lexi, Ryder, Roman AND Remi. Each.
Flight training
Uncapped
VR&E applied July 25. No tuition cap when the goal is employment — and yours is.
In reserve
36 mo
GI Bill at the 80% tier — untouched while VR&E pays 100%.
Head start
100 hrs
Self-funded flight time + a finished bachelor's that cuts the degree in half.
The engine
$27k MRR
G Media retainers keep earning while you train. Nothing gets quit.
The principle: every move in this plan stacks on top of a guaranteed floor. The family never bets the rent on aviation — the floor is untouchable, the upside is stacked.
02 · The Master Sequence

2026 → 2033, one stage at a time.

Now · Q3 2026
Lock-in quarter
VR&E decision lands (case packet ready). Property tax filed. CHAMPVA submitted. SDVOSB folder complete. Kids back in school — Jiu-Jitsu 3x/week begins. Transcript ordered, Liberty transfer evaluation run.
2026–27
Training begins
Liberty online enrollment, flying at North Las Vegas Airport. PPL first — ~6 months at 3 flights a week from your 100 hours. Subsistence stacks on the comp. G Media keeps earning.
2027–28
The ratings run
Instrument → Commercial inside Part 141. SDVOSB certified → first federal and county media bids. Purple belt window opens.
2028–29
CFI
Teaching at VGT/HND on your schedule. Vegas market: $65–107k full-time equivalent — even 15 hrs/week at $60–80/hr adds $45–60k a year while you bank hours toward 1,500.
2029–31
Optionality
Corporate/charter door opens (Part 135 minimums). GI Bill play if it fits. GA business seed capital accumulating. Brown belt.
2031–33
The business
GA venture launches — flight school, discovery flights, aerial media. Your two worlds merge. Black belt by 40. Plane. Kids in it. Tournament weekends anywhere in the West.
03 · The VA Maximization Playbook

Collect everything the law already says is yours.

BenefitThe moveValue
VR&E flight trainingApplied — win the counselor meeting with the packet$25–35k/yr while training
NV property tax exemptionFile with Clark County this week — late claim open to Jan 15~$1,264/yr forever
CHAMPVAForm 10-10d — Lexi + all three kids$8–15k/yr vs private premiums
SDVOSB + NV preferenceCertify free via VetCert (~12 days once SAM completes)Door to the $1.17B federal media market
VA home loan — funding fee waivedAny future purchase or refi: 0-down, no fee$4–10k saved per transaction, for life
Ch 35 for Lexi — nowShe can draw $1,574/mo full-time for any program todayUp to $18.9k/yr
VA dental · vision · RxPriority Group 1 — book at VA Southern Nevada$2–4k/yr the budget stops paying
VALife $40k10-minute online application, no medical questionsRate locks at your current age
SBA Veterans AdvantageReduced-fee 7(a) when the GA business needs capitalThousands off future loan fees
The fun onesLifetime parks pass · $15 NV hunt/fish license · Nellis commissary (~25% off groceries) · Space-A flights for the family$2–4k/yr + free travel
Realistic total: $20,000–$40,000+ per year in recurring value most veterans never collect — on top of compensation, on top of uncapped flight training. That's the difference between being a veteran and using your benefits.
04 · The Money Stack

No stage removes a stream. Each adds one.

EraStreamsMonthly picture
NowVA comp + businesses$4,713 floor + business income
Training+ subsistence, everything paid+$1,200–2,400/mo (push the resident-rate election — the flying is in-person at VGT)
CFI era+ instructing on your schedule+$3,500–5,000/mo at 15–20 hrs/week
Optionality+ GI Bill play and/or corporate flying + government contractsStacks by choice, not necessity
GA businessFlight school · discovery flights · aerial mediaEquity + income — the plane pays for itself before it's a toy
The merger nobody else can do: a pilot who owns a production company. Aerial media for G Media clients the day you hold a Commercial. In-house marketing every flight school pays outsiders for. An SDVOSB federal profile that functionally doesn't exist elsewhere in Vegas.
05 · The UNLV Question

The honest math on "getting paid to go to school."

After the flight ladder, could you enroll again and collect a monthly check? Yes — but only the smart version pays.

The lazy version
$0/mo
Two casual online classes = half-time or less. Housing allowance requires MORE than half-time. This version pays nothing.
The smart version
$1,000–1,400/mo
60–80% course load with at least one in-person UNLV class, in a degree that feeds the business. ~36 months ≈ $36–50k, plus tuition covered at 80%.
Best sequencing: decide in 2028, not now. Options then: the UNLV play, advanced ratings (multi-engine instructor, type ratings) at 80%, or leave it banked — Chapter 35 already covers the family, and the GI Bill stays good for 15+ years.
06 · The Body

Jiu-Jitsu is the fitness system.

The mats aren't separate from the plan — they're the physical foundation under it. And there's a quiet full-circle here: the Army separated you over weight standards. The road to black belt closes that chapter on your own terms.

The cadence
3x/week
From September — lock-in season. Ryder and Roman on the kids program alongside.
The road
Black by 40
Blue (Mar 2026) → Purple ~2028 → Brown ~2030 → Black ~2032. Buffer built in.
The data
Bloodwork
Free labs via VA Priority Group 1. Panels go in the vault, trends chart on the Fitness page.
A CFI career is physical — heat, long days, small cockpits. The mats are what make 50-year-old you still employable in one. And the kids watching Dad earn belts while Dad earns certificates? That's the culture, not just fitness.
07 · The Foundation

Faith & family — the operating system.

The family is leaning into faith, and you want to lead it. That's not a side note — it's what the rest of the plan runs on.

Draft values — react, don't adopt
Faith first — we build on rock, not sand
We show up — for each other, every time
We finish what we start
Strong body, humble heart
Everything we're given, we steward
The rhythms to protect
🕊 Church weekly — the anchor
🍽 One phone-free family table night a week
🤝 One family act of service a month
📝 Write the five values together this month — then they go on the Family board, visible every day
How it ties together: "steward what you're given" IS the benefits playbook. The plane exists to carry six people, not to sit in a hangar. Chapter 35 is inheritance planned twelve years early. The kids are watching a man rebuild his order — that's the actual point.
08 · Execution

The next 90 days, in order.

Week 1

File the Clark County property tax exemption — ~$1,264/yr starts
Call VBOC (833-880-7800) + follow up APEX — the SDVOSB folder is ready
Order the Sac State transcript → Liberty transfer evaluation
CHAMPVA Form 10-10d for Lexi + the kids
Start SAM.gov registration — the 2–6 week bottleneck (20 minutes together)

Weeks 2–4

VR&E orientation lands → rehearsal run before the counselor meeting
VALife application — 10 minutes, locks the rate
Book VA dental + the bloodwork panel — both free
Parks pass · commissary run · $15 hunt/fish license — the fun ones
The family values conversation — write the five

By day 90 — end of October

VR&E decided — if approved, enrolled for Liberty's next start
SDVOSB certified — 12-day SBA processing once SAM completes
Jiu-Jitsu cadence real since September — first stripe on blue
First federal or county bid submitted with the capability statement
The one-sentence version: the floor is guaranteed, the training is free, the market is short of exactly what you're becoming, the body and the faith hold it up — and every step is already a card on your board. Nothing left to figure out. Only to execute.