Unless I'm reading your post wrong, you never "graduated from" military training, so 61.73 does not apply to your situation. However 61.41 allows you to credit your military training towards the Commercial/Instrument requirements. So you'll still have to find a CFI to get you current, prepped, and to sign off on you to take the tests; but hopefully it won't be as time consuming as starting from scratch. Hope this helps.
§ 61.41 Flight training received from flight instructors not certificated by the FAA.
(a) A person may credit flight training toward the requirements of a pilot certificate or rating issued under this part, if that person received the training from:
(1) A flight instructor of an Armed Force in a program for training military pilots of either—
(i) The United States...
§ 61.73 Military pilots or former military pilots: Special rules.
(h) Documents for qualifying for a pilot certificate and rating. The following documents are required for a person to apply for a pilot certificate and rating:
(2) An official U.S. Armed Forces record that shows the person graduated from a U.S. Armed Forces undergraduate pilot training school and received a rating qualification as a military pilot.