Having been in the Army, admittedly almost 20 years ago, I can assure you that those in charge will very carefully tell you not to drink, yet will be intentionally incredibly inefficient about enforcement, outside of boot camp, etc.
Note that one huge difference between Army and civilian life is enforcement of drinking might be a touch lax compared to civilian life, but enforcement of drunken-ness is absolutely draconian compared to civilian. You absolutely, positively do not want a blood alcohol level over 0.0000 when on duty or behind the wheel, even off post or in the barracks, etc. At least in that way my .mil experience was extremely European... you want a beer with that pizza, fine, you know its illegal but I'm not going to stop you. On the other hand god help you if you're caught being drunk, you may as well shoot yourself, its very draconian. You're literally better off smoking weed than being drunk, seriously, and yes I know the army is/was nuts about drug use. You'll merely get kicked out for a failed pee test... for being drunk on duty or behind the wheel you'll serve time. My European analogy is I'm told you really don't want to get busted for DWI in Germany... in Wisconsin its just a minor misdemeanor right up there with being 5 mph over speeding (seriously, WI is legendary for being lax)
Like many things in .mil, "good soldiers" get away with quite a bit more than the proverbial platoon F-up can get away with.
Note that one huge difference between Army and civilian life is enforcement of drinking might be a touch lax compared to civilian life, but enforcement of drunken-ness is absolutely draconian compared to civilian. You absolutely, positively do not want a blood alcohol level over 0.0000 when on duty or behind the wheel, even off post or in the barracks, etc. At least in that way my .mil experience was extremely European... you want a beer with that pizza, fine, you know its illegal but I'm not going to stop you. On the other hand god help you if you're caught being drunk, you may as well shoot yourself, its very draconian. You're literally better off smoking weed than being drunk, seriously, and yes I know the army is/was nuts about drug use. You'll merely get kicked out for a failed pee test... for being drunk on duty or behind the wheel you'll serve time. My European analogy is I'm told you really don't want to get busted for DWI in Germany... in Wisconsin its just a minor misdemeanor right up there with being 5 mph over speeding (seriously, WI is legendary for being lax)
Like many things in .mil, "good soldiers" get away with quite a bit more than the proverbial platoon F-up can get away with.