which of these ways (if any) are the best to switch to it sec?!?

[allerena () optonline net]

I am getting out of the Marine Corps within the next month and am looking to continue my career in the IT industry that 
I had prior to enlisting.  I would like to switch over the security side of IT, but before I enlisted, I was working 
with the standard networking portion (routers, switches, servers).  

While looking online, I saw a couple different roads that I could go down, but am wondering which of these, (if any), 
is the way to go.  

I saw a boot camp for the Certified Ethical Hacker, and was also looking at the GIAC certs.  The beginner certs seem to 
be the Information Security Fundamentals, and Security Essentials Certification.  Are these the way to go to try and 
restart my IT career and point it in the path of the security field?  If not, what would you suggest?  Also, do you 
believe that this would be enough to get me an entry level job with security? 

Since I am about to be unemployed, I dont have many restrictions, besides money. ;)  My current budget is about 6000 to 
spend on classes / certs- and I would love to buy some books and learn as much as I could that way, however after 
looking at the curriculum for the CEH, it seems that hands on is the best way for me to become truly proficient in the 
material.  I will have an abundance of time in my job search (I have already started looking and applying for standard 
networking jobs) for me to take classes at any part of the country at any time.  However, if taking one or two of these 
classes / certs will not be enough, then I don't know if it is feasible.  I am a quick and adept learner so I feel that 
I will be able to absorb knowledge pretty quickly, but since I do not know much about this field, or programming, I am 
hesitant about which direction to take.

Thanks in advance for your time and all replies that I receive!

-A