Indeed, the public treats the MVs entirely different than any other vehicle at a car show. I have had kids climb up the nose of a CMP (while the parents stand there watching), and kids (and disadvantaged cultures, while drunk and high as kites) jump into the vehicles without asking. Like ants at a picnic, they will constantly be searching for a weak spot in the defenses. Opening and slamming hatches on armoured vehicles is fair game, and what kid doesn't want to know what happens when you pull that red handle (AFV extinguisher). If you lock up an armoured vehicle, but have a hatch open 8 feet up, then obviously that is an invitation to climb up the sides. And why can't a family of 5 walk up the trails of a gun so they can get into the back of a deuce and a half.
To that end, when I display the museum vehicles or even my own, it's almost always with rope and stands so there are some boundaries. Even then, should the ropes somehow sag to less than 8 inches from the ground, then obviously that means "come on in".
If there is a level of interactivity with a vehicle, then it is strictly controlled. We will rope off a M113 but have the ramp down for an entrance. We allow the kids to get up into the drivers hatch and hold the back of a 50 cal. But it is controlled like a circus ride.....2 people run the display. One at the back of the vehicle limiting the kids to 4 in the vehicle. They get in, sit their butts onto the troop seats, and slide down until it is their turn. The second person tells them how to climb up without hitting their heads, slaps a helmet onto their head, smile and thumbs up to mommy who is taking the picture, then directed off and out the back of the carrier. There is no chinups or swinging from the hatches, a glass partition separates the kids from the drivers seat, no walking around the roof, no testing to see what this lever does (answer: it drops the other kid already up in the seat back to the floor of the carrier whilst shearing the other kids finger tips off).
We will have 30 kids lined up for that 10 seconds behind the gun, and some come back 5 times to do it again, so the thrill is there, but just with safety.
Your vehicle, your choice. But allowing the little angels, hopped up on sugar and with exhausted parents who are looking for a way to hand them off to someone else, free reign on your vehicle in no way promotes history or respect.
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