Romeo,
No, I saw the detail and stand by my comments. The invite was obviously sent on the assumption that the lady's husband was a civilian. Bad research perhaps. The NCO should've realised this and minimised the embarrassment to all by letting the PMC know, and his wife taking a colleague along as a guest. That would be the adult approach with no offence caused all round.
I've been there in those exact circumstances in the past, (apart from my better half being a welfare guru, not a journo). I was not offended, it's the game we are in. I joined up at 16 and went through the ranks, including NCA, before commissioning. For the record I don't regret a day of my long winded crawl through the ranks although obviously time constrains my, ahem, career ceiling. And yes, SFFP, I agree with you and others that it is fine down route or on det. But it takes a special kind of JR to know the time and place to relax things or 'formalise them up.' Luckily the majority of our people have this skill set.
Multi-engine and mixed rank crews are a different matter both in the air and on the ground, but the system works well. No room for rank there, only the right man in whichever seat is key at that point in time. NCA have always been an anomaly in this way.
I mean no offence to seac, although I did think the rapist comment was juvenile to say the least, but the tried and tested messing system is there for a reason. It works. The Americans hugely regret the demise of their similar messing system; it's all but gone and they are worse off for it.