Something for all you guys and gals that served and took lots of photos.... Keep them in good quality, archival type jackets and take a couple of minutes and write a little note about the photo...the normal who, what, when and where and what was going on at the time. Without that info to go with the photo, once you pass, those details are lost forever.
A good example was a gal working with me. Her step-dad was a Navy and Air America pilot. She brought in a stack of his log books one day for another engineer and I to look through. Let's say WOW...Multiple air victory credits, shot down twice...some blank times, then suddenly Air America flying for a number of years then back to the Navy. We asked her if he had photos that we could see some day. She said she would check. Turns out he had a footlocker absolutely packed full, but didn't talk about them. We made the suggestion that the next time she could quietly talk with him, ask that if she would separate and put them in sleeves, would he tell her about them and let her write it all down so her kids and the other grand and greatgrand kids would know about him and what he did in the service. He ended up telling her he would consider it and let her know. I didn't see Carol for a couple of months, but when I did, she laughed about it and said we had created a monster in her dad. He had taken over two bedrooms and the office at his home sorting out photos in time order, puttimg them in sleeves and notebooks, along with writing up every detail he could think of about each photo. Her mother said that she had never seen him have as much enjoyment or be as excited of something in lots of years. He had even been in contact with a number of his old flying buddies, had joined up with a group dedicated to his Navy days and the Air America group too. In fact, at the time, they were getting ready to head off to one of the group get togethers.
I know that some of what went on at those times is painful to remember and some of it is wonderful too, but please take the time to do this. It helps make the photos come alive to the viewer, and helps to tell the story of everyone that serves. Without that info, at some point after your passing, the photos often loose their importance to the heirs and often are either tossed out or pass out of the family and lost forever.