Advice for Transitioning Military Officer Starting IB in March or April

I'm an officer, who will be getting out in March. Looking for some IB advice.

My concern is that getting hired in IB at a BB in March may be hard to do. Hiring classes are pretty structured. I suppose I'll apply for analyst roles, which may be a bit strange since I'll be older than everyone else. 

I know most guys go straight for their MBA, but after a lot of consideration, I decided to work at least a year or two before for a variety of reasons. I went to a top target undergrad. All my friends are associates in PE or IB, even the ones who couldn't pass accounting without seeing my notes. So, I'm trying to catch up to them.

I know a PE director and HF Manager who said they will email my resume to some of their colleagues around the street, but I don't know how helpful that will be. There are some rotational programs going on at BB and MBB at that time, so maybe I can slide into one of those.

Any firms that I should specifically look into? Should I cold email boutiques instead?

Also, if anyone, has any good discord servers for veterans and the street or the street in general, would love to join.