Is the 104-R typically filled out once a cadet arrives on campus for freshman year? My DS is a 4yr scholarship cadet. He hasn't been sent anything from his university yet with regard to paperwork. He does have to report to school a few days before the other freshmen. I assume this is to do ROTC orientation and paperwork such as 104-R. Any insight is always appreciated!
As others have said, when you complete your 104-R will depend upon whether you are contracting (necessary for money to flow) and when your cadre chooses to issue the paperwork.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with being prepared to fill it out on the spot. You can find a 104-R on line (google is your friend). It shouldn't change from year to year, but even if you have to fill it out again (copying from your downloaded form) you will be ahead of the game.
Basically, the 104-R is an academic plan to graduate in the time that your unit has planned for your commissioning. It will be filled out every term until you graduate because the best plans often go south when your planned class fills up before you are allowed to register.
Here is some advice I gave a couple months ago regarding this:
My advice to all incoming freshmen:
1) Get the course catalog for your entering year (it changes every year).
2) Get the list of requirements (general ed, major, specialty) for your degree from that course catalog.
3) Look up and list by requirement ALL courses that satisfy EACH requirement and list them by requirement.
4) As you list those courses, spell out the pre-requisites (or co-requisites - taken at the same time) for the course (class standing, other courses, accepted into major, instructor approval, etc.).
5) Identify the courses at the beginning of the longest pre-requisite chain that you are eligible to take immediately and put them in your first semester plan if at all possible. For you engineering type, there will be math, physics, and chem chains that will be lengthy.
6) Plot these chains out in your 104r (you can find one online and download - google is your friend) starting in the earliest semester possible. Start from the longest chain and proceed to your shortest chain.
7) Add in your MS classes across your first 8 semesters.
8) Fill in other specifically required classes (that don't have pre-requisites - you already did these above). Look at course schedules to make sure they are offered the term you intend to take them.
9) Fill in classes you have choices for (pick 3 from a group of 5). Take special note of classes that have an unusual number of credit hours. Try to schedule those to even out your load across the semesters if possible.
10) If you notice that you need to consistently take more than 16 credit hours to make all the required classes fit into 8 semesters, you will want to talk to your cadre about needing more than 4 years to graduate.
Many schools have you meet with an adviser as part of freshman orientation. You can use your 104-R as part of your discussion on what to take. Probably best not to ask for a signature at that time because your cadre will probably want to provide guidance (and let you know what courses satisfy the ROTC military history requirement - you could take a guess, but it may be wrong). However, the bulk of it should make sense to your adviser and s/he can help you correct it if you made any mistakes regarding university/school/degree requirements.
This is an important step for cadets to do. They are taking responsibility for getting the academic job done. Being proactive only keeps the cadet ahead and out of trouble.
One last piece of advice... If the cadet has a non-major field which they struggle with (say a lab science for a humanities major), they may want to plan their required course for the first semester of their Senior year. Why? Your senior GPA does not count towards your OML for AD selection/branching. First semester gives you a chance to try it again if things go really wrong.