Battles graduated with a BFA in Painting from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in December 1991, and earned his MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford in September 2013.

Originally serving as a Marine Reservist from 1986 until 1996, Battles became a Marine combat artist after reenlisting in 2006, and deployed to Overseas Contingency Operations to create combat art for the United States Marine Corps, serving in that billet until 2014. From 2014 until 2019, Battles served as a civilian combat artist for the Naval History and Heritage Command at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Battles is currently the Marine Corps Artist in Residence, on staff at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA, and also manages the Marine Corps Combat Art Program.

Battles’ work was featured on the cover of Leatherneck magazine, March 2008, December 2009, August 2020, February 2022, June 2025, and November 2025. His illustrations for the “Sharing the Courage” series were featured in Marines magazine, Oct/Nov/Dec 2009, and in a Marine Corps Times article “Heroics illustrated, comic-book style” by James K Sanborn, March 22nd, 2010.

Battles was featured in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section on July 18th, 2010, in an article by Carol Kino entitled, “With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi” and on March 11th, 2018 in an article by Janet Morrissey entitled, “In the Marines, a Connection Between Art and Combat.”

Battles has been invited to be a guest speaker and artist for several events and organizations.  He was featured at USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA during Marine Week in May, 2010, and his work was also on display May 5th 2010 in the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Harvard University.  Battles was also guest speaker at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, January 28th 2011, and was forum speaker at The Army and The Navy Club in Washington, DC March 2nd, 2011. Battles was also invited to share his experiences as  a combat artist in a panel discussion “Preservation of War: Vietnam—the Combat Artist Program” at the US National Archives April 9th, 2018 along with fellow Marine combat artists Charles Grow, Ben Long, and Jim Butcher, and Army combat artist James Pollock.

Battles was featured in ABC’s, “Persons of the Week: Combat Artists” with Charlie Gibson, September 2007, along with fellow combat artist and Hartford MFA alumnus Michael Fay, and combat artists Charles Grow and Marine Corps Artist in Residence Col. Charles Waterhouse.

Battles is a 2008 and 2010 recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s John W. Thomason Award for excellence in combat art, and the 2010 and 2011 recipient of the Marine Corps Combat Correspondence Association’s Merit Award for Combat Art.