I agree with LearjetFO. I was in your shoes not to long ago hawk99. I would suggest that you try to go with option 1 with the exception of staying in the PacNW. The reason I say this is because while the school may be telling you 15-18 months it may end up being a bit longer due to weather. From my experience with being stationed at Ft Lewis the ceilings tend to stay on the lower side for what seemed most of the time. That might not effect you IR but when winter comes the freezing level will. Go somewhere the weather is more cooperative. FL, TX, AZ, are a few good places I would think.

I would try to maximize the use of those benefits concerning the GIbill. I understand wanting to get to work quickly, believe me! The reality though is no matter how much total time you finish training with, your probably going to have to instruct to build more time anyway. Furthermore with this new ATP rule your may have to spend 15k to 20k just to get qualified to go on to an airline. You may be able to use VocRehab for that though, I'm not sure.

If you already have a degree most of your credits should transfer and all you'll need is the aviation courses such as the flightlabs and a few dum classes like aviation history. That being the case getting the other degree should be cake. Save your money dude.