Why Am I a Marine contains reproductions of the original moleskine journal that photographer Stephen Dupont took with him into the field while embedded in Afghanistan with Weapons Platoon in August 2009. 

“Why Am I A Marine? is a portrait series of a single US Marine platoon based in Afghanistan in 2009. Weapons Platoon 2nd BAT LAR were based in Khan Neshin, Helmand Province. This book contains scans of the original Moleskine journal that I took into the field and used as both a daily diary and a photo book containing original Polaroids of each Marine in the platoon. The portraits were taken around the Forward Operating Base Castle and alongside each Polaroid, rawly taped inside the journal, are personal testimonies from each of the Marines to the question, why am I a Marine? The book represents the journal in design and sequence, showing the actual journal object throughout.”  – Stephen Dupont

The original journal is in the permanent collection of the Prints & Photographs Collection of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The work has been featured in Aperture Magazine and Aperture publication Photographic Memory.

This object is a compilation of 35 prints from this project, contained in a box.