The Air Force has accepted a ceremonial $10 from Merced County in California for some 1,900 acres of the former Castle Air Force Base, reports the Modesto Bee via the Merced Sun-Star. Considering some Merced residents gave the nearly 2,800-acre facility to the Army Air Forces in 1940, it was probably a fair deal. The base closed under BRAC 1995 and has been the subject of cleanup and transfer actions, including giving other parcels of the land to the Bureau of Prisons and Human and Health Services.
Promotions to the Space Force’s second highest enlisted grade, senior master sergeant, have surged to the highest level in the young service’s history, bolstering the senior NCO corps as officials plan to aggressively expand the force and especially the enlisted corps.