I took this photo just hours after the ceasefire of Operation Desert Storm. It features a member of my MI collection team who was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions against the enemy. The challenges we faced were numerous. We were the first unit to deploy during Desert Shield and conducted continuous operations throughout both phases of Desert Storm, leaving us exhausted. My Nikon FA and FM cameras were battered, my film was stored in an ammo pouch filled with dust and sand, and the lenses were worn from nine months in the desert. I later scanned the negatives with a Plustek OpticFilm scanner using SilverFast software and edited them in Lightroom Classic. I decided to keep the dust marks and scratches on the photo during post-production to authentically represent the battlefield conditions.Currently, I use a pair of Canon 5D MK IVs.