2nd Annual Defence Community Family Appreciation Days Ottawa: June 2 - 3, 2012

[Stuart Fedak]

Text deleted as information is no longer current.

[Robin Craig]

Since I am I think one of the few local MV owners who participated I think it pertinent to post into this thread.

Be very careful, many people, hoards of children with no parents either in sight or exercising any kind of control.

Most children treated all the displayed vehicles as being play structures.

When asking children to stop reefing and hauling on fittings on the vehicle I was displaying, I got the big "wha is it to you it belongs to the Army" speech from more than one parent.

When I showed them the signage stating it was privately owned and operated they yanked the kids off and went over and ripped apart the CWM vehicles on display.

R

[J.Mosher]

As the other of the few local MV owners who participated, I can attest to Robin’s statement. Though on their way over to rip apart the CWM vehicles on display, they stopped by my vehicle. Door straps are ineffective, even when coiled with convincing fake barbed wire. The message was apparently lost. As Robin said, even placards were ignored.

This problem is common to MVs however (though I expected better at this show), you don’t see people helping themselves to the drivers seat of someone’s Corvette at the local cruise night. I’m not sure why they see MVs differently, but they do. I’ll be one of the first to show appreciation to our Vets and their families, however I don’t want my engine flooded or the starter switch stepped on. It’s unfortunate because we go to all the effort restoring these vehicles to share with the public.

Consistency is key though, because if you’re not letting people onboard, the first time you make an exception for a deserving Vet, look over your shoulder. They’re watching and you’re about to be overrun. Eric and Dan will recall “the incident” at the Bunker I’m sure.

All that said, it’s a worthy event. Hopefully more MVs will turn out this year. Perhaps the organizers can provide some assistance with this issue. Or maybe someone can bring a MP uniform


Cheers,

Jeff

[chris vickery]

Perhaps some barrier tape or fencing to keep the crowds at bay???
I don't know what the answer is but I do know that I have in the past had to keep guard duty on my vehicles either myself or with an appointed person.
I agree, the Public has much disregard for privately owned vehs as most of them are morons and don't know a jeep from a truck. Its green so it must belong to the Army.
I have found that for the most part, participation amongst MV related shows has a different culture vs public events. Maybe public events are best left to our representatives in uniform to safeguard taxpayer owned equipment?
Most MV related events, not all, have certain understood rules pertaining to the observation and molesting of displayed items.
I have been in both camps in the past; in public, leave the doo-dads home, batten everything down, disconnect the batteries, stand by and hope for the best. The general public is ignorant of everything for the most part and certainly does not appreciate the nuances of having properly displayed kit etc.
On the other hand, not everyone at a MV show is an angel either, but, many guys can and do appreciate being able to inspect and molest your veh, of course with your permission. I can attest that I take great pride in my workmanship and am hapy to show it off to persons with a true and sincere interest.

[servicepub (RIP)]

If my M38A1 is road-worthy I may attend this but will give consideration to roing off an area (although real barbed wire obstacles are worth a thought).

[rob love]

When I used to display with our club at airshows I always roped off my vehicles. Some guys didn't want to rope theirs, and after a while many of them became converts.

I did notice some trends regarding ropes:
1: If you let the ropes sag to the point where a person could easily step over them, then you might as well not have them. People for some reason believe the sagging rope is the same as a designated entrance.

2: If you start taking the ropes down at the end of the display, your vehicle will be swarmed by the remaining public. You almost have to wait for them all to be gone.

3: There will always be those who want to retain souvenirs. They don't really care what they get, as long as they get something. A small bit of locking wire between the vehicle and the items will slow them down to the point where they fear getting caught and you will get to keep your grenades/mortar rounds or whatever.

With those in place, there were a couple things I would do for the viewers, so they got some experience from the event. For the kids, I would keep a deactivated rifle and sten handy, along with a couple of the old cadet battle dress jackets and a couple of the smallish mk2 helmets. I would ask the parents permission and let the kids pose with them. It was a good photo op for the kids, and who knows, maybe turn them into collectors one day.

The other thing I did was I would bring one of those sets of mechanics stairs, the ones with handrails and a front bar. The ropes would start and end on the sides of the stairs, giving the public a chance to go up and view (but not go into) my carrier from above.