An ex -tanker on another forum said it best "Tanks were designed to kill people...and they don't care who that might be".
It is always nice to participate in events so people can see the vehicles and appreciate their history, but recently I stopped participating in one public event because it has become incredibly dangerous. They insist on using a tank to crush cars for the crowd (not one of mine, another local guy). Now personally the whole idea of crushing cars with a tank for the public's amusement is not my cup of tea. These aren't monster trucks or demolition derby mobiles...these are historic military vehicles, veterans if you will. They are not toys for Bubba's amusement...I think once we reduce them to this then we lose sight of what they were designed for and we do let our guard down and begin to see them as recreational vehicles...which they are not. Anyway this event has grown bigger every year but the area allocated for the car crushing has grown smaller, and with a smaller area and bigger crowds, people are within feet, sometimes inches of a 40 ton tank as it lurches, turns and moves with no signal or warning. The last event I attended the tank was doing some moves when it came to a stop, the thrilled crowd who had been following the tank began to crowd around it, when suddenly it lept into reverse and shot back about four feet as the clutch was let out...very nearly crushing a lady who had been seconds before touching the right rear fender...if the track had got her leg she would have been pulled under and crushed between the track and the pavement....Very Scary. The driver/owner of the tank did not have a person in the turret to guide him and the ground guides had no radio communication with the driver and no predetermined hand signals, just a bunch of pointing and waving. Nobody seemed to mind and my cautions fell on deaf ears so that was it for me...When I take armored vehicles out to my local Legion on Remembrance Day, it is for static display only because the area they have is much to small to even safely move the vehicle let alone do any kind of exhibition for the crowd...so it is in place at 7am and out well after everyone has cleared out...even then, driver, observer, ground guide...no exceptions
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