One more time for the boys

Finally, after much difficulty, the second issue of Force & Valor Magazine is now out. This is a publication of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force, and is designed by Dominique James and written by moi. The issue features the trainings and traditions that make a SAF Trooper.


On the cover is Police Chief Superintendent Felizardo M. Serapio Jr., the SAF's fifteenth commander, and founder of the SAF Special Operations Battalion in the early eighties. Now Boss Apiong has left the SAF, upon orders, and is now the Regional Director of Police Regional Office 12, which is more popularly known as the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, where SAF Troopers operate regularly against the Abu Sayyaf Group and The Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Boss Apiong's exit was quite dramatic, though, because right after the turnover ceremonies and his final farewell to the troops, the magazine was released bearing him on the cover. As befits a true warrior, he is sent where he is most needed. But he left the SAF a stronger unit, with a kick-ass magazine, and this centerfold:


For beyond carrying the SAF through the difficult time when it was tainted with the February 24 incident, it is also during Boss Apiong's time when the very first SAF Trooper has received the Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for bravery in battle.

The cover story talks about the four major training courses that the SAF recruit is required to go through, namely, the Commando, the Sureshock, the Scuba, and the Airborne, all symbolically present in the SAF patch. Here is an excerpt from the cover story, aptly entitled "Through Fire and Ice:"

"Warriors and made, not born. In the SAF, recuits come from all over the country, from all walks of life, from various faiths and traditions. Before they are given the four esteemed training patches that make them worthy to fight for their country alongside equally qualified warriors, these recruits go through fire and ice, and must willfully and knowingly allow their former non-SAF selves to retire so that the new SAF warrior can emerge from the sweat, dust, pain, and tears of training. The SAF Trooper must consciously submit himself to incredible forces that will shake him to his very core. Only then can he be truly proud to bear the honor of his arms. This is how the SAF Trooper rises. In this, he is not -- and can never be -- as other men."

More than stress the element of difficulty that went with this magazine, I prefer to stress the element of triumph that goes with the release of every issue of the magazine. The magazine was able to raise over two hundred thousand pesos from advertisements alone, and from the fund we were able to print four thousand copies of the forty-page isssue, which of course looks fantastic on satin matte paper because it's been printed by LexMedia Digital of Print Town. Also, this is perhaps the only magazine in the country that is being created by just two people, DJ and me. I take comfort in the fact, however, that it is in keeping with the SAF tradition of sacrifice that Force & Valor cannot be Force & Valor without some amount of battle.

At any rate, it is worth it. And from the trenches we emerge, victorious.


The magazine will be distributed to SAF Troopers and the different police offices in the regions, but it is available for free in pdf format, both from the sidebar of this blog and from DJ's website at www.dominiquejames.com. And of course there will be another podcast, which shall be uploaded soon.