10 U.S.C. § 8779: Officers’ messes and quarters: limitations on employment of enlisted members

Under such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy prescribes, enlisted members of the naval service and enlisted members of the Coast Guard when it is operating as a service in the Navy may be assigned to duty in a service capacity in officers’ messes and public quarters where the Secretary finds that this use of the members is desirable for military reasons. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, retired enlisted members of the naval service and members of the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve may, when not on active duty, be voluntarily employed in any service capacity in officers’ messes and public quarters without additional expense to the United States. The Secretary, to the extent he considers proper, may delegate the authority conferred by this section, except the authority to prescribe regulations, to any person in the Department of the Navy, with or without the authority to make successive redelegations.