Jacob, Welcome back from a fellow MO Bolter!
Your question basically comes down to what do you want the truck to look like when finished??? If you like the patina, you can remove the loose/flaking and chalky paint with a good power wash and scrub down and then coat it with one of the currently available "patina preservers" which provides a coating to basically seal and preserve how it looks today. If you want a nice factory style paint job, then you must do the whole strip down, body work/paint prep and full repaint process.
Either way, it's your truck and your choice. What ever makes you happiest!
