If you have great stats, then just apply. T14 law schools are actually very diverse and have a lot of nontraditional students. Getting work experience can be a good thing if you want to do it for your own benefit. Having legal work experience can be great because it can help you understand what you're getting yourself into.

How good of a student are you? I don't understand why you would lose motivation to go back to school after a year. A year is not a very long period of time in the grand scheme of your life. Nonetheless, if you have the funds to go now and already know what type of law you want to do it may be best to just apply straight to law school. The reason I ask how good of a student you are is because if you have a 3.9 and can score a 165+, you're probably going to get into a very good school without any work experience. If you don't get the score you want, get some legal experience and spend time studying for the LSAT. One friend of mine had a very high GPA but she did not get the score she wanted during senior year of college. She got 2 years of legal experience and eventually scored a 175. She goes to YLS now.

I think your best bet is to get a private tutor. Private tutoring is much better than group classes because a good tutor can focus on your specific strengths and weaknesses. The cost of private tutoring is well worth it too...you're already spending a ton of money on law school after all. Why not invest in a tutor who will help you get into the best law school possible.

You also have to understand that the LSAT is a standardized exam. It took me a long time to realize that the way you study for a standardized test is not the same way you study for your undergrad classes. Undergrad exams are mostly knowledge based--if you pay attention in class, take good notes, and do all the readings, you usually end up doing well in the class. The LSAT is a skills based test; you get better at the LSAT by taking it more and understanding the test. That being said, quality over quantity is very important when studying for the LSAT. A lot of people on here love to aggrandize their LSAT struggles, especially among friends and family. They like to complain about how much time they've put in for the LSAT. This circles back to the point earlier I made about getting a private tutor. You can study for 8+ hours and perpetually score in the 140s or 150s on your test if you are repeating the same types of mistakes over and over. A good tutor should be able to pick up on what types of mistakes you are making.

Being in the military can give your application a boost, but don't become complacent.

How much of a boost you get is going to depend on a lot of factors such as the rank of the law school, branch of military, and your specific job within the military. For example, if you're applying to Harvard and Yale, you're competing with the best of the best veterans. Harvard and Yale are going to have a lot of service academy grades with 3.9+ gpa's and 170+ LSATs. Also, cross your fingers that the school you're applying to doesn't have a lot of vets who have the same job and are from the same branch.

I think being in the military definitely helped me overcome a low gpa when I applied to Georgetown for my MBA. However, my GMAT was well over the class average. I think the better question to ask is, what specifically about your military experience will help add to the upcoming class? Georgetown has a very global perspective, so in my video essay I talked about my international deployments.

I think points 2 and 3 would be good. 4 would make sense if you had a low ugrad gpa. I would write on points 2 and 3 and explain how those circumstances have informed your decision to pursue law school.

Definitely get a rec letter from them. It doesn't hurt to ask in advanced! Also, if you're allowed to submit a second rec letter, ask for one from your current employer.

Just retake it, if it's a core class don't you have to retake it to graduate? Retake the class and try to get a better grade.