Just now read this. The base club does not provide alcohol at release parties...the selectees themselves pool in and buy the booze and the non-alcoholic drinks also. The booze at Chistmas parties, Leadership School and NCO Academy graduations, Dining-Outs, Dining-Ins, etc., is bought and paid for buy the person drinking it, just like at any other dinner. The grog bowls at Dining-Outs and Dining-Ins have gone from a single bowl of an alcoholic concoction, to one each alcoholic and non-alcoholic bowl, to one non-alcoholic bowl. At none of these is alcohol provided free of charge any more.
ArmyVet83 was refering to informal Army gatherings like Right Arm Night and Bosses Night, which were little more than a reason to get [Mark May]-faced. Informal squadron-focused functions (picnics, beach bashes, etc.) rarely, if ever, provide alcohol any more. There's a huge difference between being at the base club and purchasing alcohol on your own at a function, and grabbing a free cold one from one of about 10 coolers of iced-down beer at a squadron picinc...the latter just doesn't happen any more and hasn't for about 15-20 years. The last formal military function I attended with alcohol that didn't have to be purchased by the individual was our First Sergeant's Combat Dining-In back in 1997. Having alcohol at squadron functions has been frowned upon in a big way since the mid/late-90s...