It's unrelated, but I wanted to nitpick this:
>safety comes first. Always.
The safest way to keep the airspace above the US would be to ban all general and commercial aviation.
Safety does not come first. Safety never comes first, because the safest course of action is to never do anything. It is always a balancing of risk.
It is very unfortunate that something like this is keeping you from your dream. I'm sorry.