Shame about the thread drift here in what started life as a discussion about what is, a peculiarity of living on RAF Married patches. I have never lived on an Army patch but NEVER came across wives pulling rank in the RN.
As we moved onto the subject of living in Single Living Accomodation, I remember that not so long ago , you needed to get permission from the mess president to even have one's wife stay overnight during functions! On the subject of booze, there are two sides to the argument, you can treat people like adults or encourage them to drink alcohol in the bar provided, which improves the mess profits and ensures that others can keep an eye on those who are drinking too much.
Remember though, we are talking about Military Service here not Tesco's or the NHS and persons being subject to Queen's regulations.