Recently, I rediscovered letters I had saved from my father when he was in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. I had not read them in over 20 years and I was struck my father's reassuring words to my young self as he was surrounded by uncertainty and conflict. These personal artifacts have grounded my existing exploration of military aesthetics in my experiences as the son of a marine. The letters will form the basis of a new series of paintings, drawings and videos depicting the letters and cultural signifiers from the period covered in the letters (Sept ‘90 – March ‘91). Recreating these letters by hand is significant to me, where I am tracing my father’s hand, whose words are giving my teenage self, fatherly advice, communicating his beliefs and doubts and recounting his experience. Serendipitously, my father was 41 when he wrote these letters to me – the same age I am now.