I completely agree that alcoholism is a disease, and as with any other disease, we have to look at the survivability if she got the transplant.
Let's be honest, while the article tries to be favourable to the patient, you can piece together the facts and see that her odds weren't good. While she's been sober since she got the diagnosis, it appears she was immediately hospitalised which tells us she was in very rough shape and has only been sober while in the hospital. Even if she was able to stay sober, it looks like the odds with a partial transplant aren't great.
Typically, anything E-4 or higher is considered a Non-Commisioned Officer.
EDIT further clarification: from my experience in the Canadian Army, what "Officers" means depends on context. Most often (and what !Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de probably meant) it means just Commissioned Officers. Other times, it's anyone in leadership, including NCOs.