National Football League

Special meaning behind the photo in shot of DeSean Jackson signing with Redskins

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:13 a.m. ET

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Moments after the Washington Redskins tweeted a photo of DeSean Jackson signing with the team, people all over the Internet wondered what the photo behind Jackson was all about.

Now we know.

And it's pretty great.

First, here's the photo:

Now here's the backstory:

The photo was taken in 2012 by a 22-year-old corporal named Reece Lodder. Here's more info on it, via the Marines:

Lodder shot this photo following a squad patrol to clear houses of insurgent activity as part of Operation Tageer Shamal in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. After five hours, the squad stopped to rest in an abandoned compound. All of the Marines and Afghan soldiers were exhausted, as were the IED detection dogs, so this trio decided to catch a quick nap. Even though he was tired, Lodder grabbed his camera and captured the moment. "I liked that the Redskins blanket was in the photo because it was an unusual slice of reality back home in the midst of a long operation and a drab desert. I think our fans like this photo because it'€™s an unusual, interesting image that visually, physically and emotionally gets to the core of what the Marines and the dog were feeling at this moment in time. It helps them feel, even if only in a small way, what we felt."

Pretty awesome stuff.

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