We finally received the letter. It's a 3 year scholarship but only to the college where the admissions window is already closed. There are procedures for requesting a transfer but failing to apply to the college is not a reason that you can use. What it specifically says is "If the request is based on the applicant not being admitted to the indicated school, a copy of the letter from that college indicating admission was denied must be submitted". I'm keying in on the "if" in the statement which leads me to believe that there may be other valid reasons for requesting a transfer. Unfortunately I've not be able to find anything on the internet about it. He has to accept the scholarship offer by 3 March but then has until 12 April to submit a request for transfer. If anyone has more sage advice on this it would be welcome.
I don't know what your reason for not applying (and thus not being admitted) is, but I would hope that you would be able to articulate it in the letter to CC. It may be as simple as, I visited X school after the date for updates to my ROTC application and my family decided that area around the school was not safe enough and so I did not complete my application.
The fact is that a lot of students change their minds about schools they list on their ROTC application. IIRC, my daughter did so as well.
The difference is that she changed her school list (not that it mattered, she ended up getting a campus-based scholarship to what was her #2 school before her name came up on the OML).
Your difficulty is that it sounds like you just didn't do the update and now it has come back to bite you. It sounds kind of awkward, but it is what it is.
BTW, I know you looked at the application deadline, but have you actually called the admissions department, explained your situation, and asked for an exception? I don't know anything about your academic profile, but if you are above average for the institution, have a scholarship in hand that is only good at that school, and can give an on-the-spot acceptance, you might be surprised what happens. The worst they can say is, thanks but no thanks.
If you were a blue-chip athletic prospect, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd find a way to get you in...
Of course you have to really want to go to this school, which it sounds like even for free (with the scholarship) it is not acceptable to you.