When I was but a wee lad, one of my uncles came down to Houston for a visit and brought along a copy of SOF. I think he may have picked it up on at an airport newsstand to read on the flight, and since he was finished with it, he passed it along to me.
I devoured it like a fat man attacking an all-you-can-eat buffet, and spent a lot of time and effort after that seeking out the latest issues. I would buy copies from the newsstand in the shopping mall. Or I’d ride my moped over the back roads to the closest Walden Books, which had SOF in their magazine rack. Later on, SOF even managed to penetrate the suburban Houston grocery stores.
But at some point, after I went to college – I think around the time they eliminated the classified ads, too – SOF changed. I felt it was for the worse. They used to run practical articles on subjects of interest to a younger me (for example, the best places to shoot someone holding a gun to a hostage’s head, in order to insure instant incapacitation). The newer SOF seemed to be more interested in geopolitics, and less interested in the “how-to” side of things.
I eventually stopped purchasing it. I’d still glance at copies when I saw them, but I grew up, got a job that didn’t involve being a mercenary, and didn’t really need it in my life any longer.
The teenage boy left inside me will miss it, and might pick up a copy of the last print issue because nostalgia is a moron. The adult me isn’t terribly surprised, and shan’t mourn for too long.