There was a buzz all around camp; a new piece of equipment had arrived. We all wanted to get at it and play. I had had a rough run of late, which may be why I was picked as team leader that was to be first trained on the new toy. It was a can, with a long barrel, we guessed it was a new water cannon. The old ones looked similar and were effective, they were 96 Clive Andrews just a high pressure hose that sprayed water over a rioting crowd, it cooled them down and you could knock them down sometimes but that was about it. This new toy was fantastic, it fired water, but in single shots, each shot released a gallon of water at about 30 miles an hour. On the target range, we smashed every target with one shot on each. So long as they hit the target. I couldnt wait to use this little baby out on the streets. I didnt have to wait long, the orange men marched regularly during the summer season. We were sent out to aid crowd control, I hoped it started going tits up. As expected, it did. I had two sections covering me, armed with rubber bullets and some real ones too. My driver swung in to range and I had a perfect view from the flank. The only down side was to operate in comfort with maximum accuracy, you had to be standing up in the turret, so was open to be fired at. I couldnt care less, I just wanted to use this huge water pistol. I took aim and fired, just a single shot, fuck me, I thought. The paddy it hit, took off. I got him square in the chest, and he landed about six feet away, on his back then curled up in a ball to protect himself. He never knew what hit him. The snatch squad went forward and grabbed him. They dragged him behind our cover, cuffed him then threw him into the back of a police van. Me, I just opened up on the brick-throwing crowd. It was effective if I hit the front ones and lifted them into those behind, this was better than ten-pin bowling. I had a hundred gallon water tank on board and was determined to go back empty. I hit one after the other, sending them flying. The snatch squad ran out of places to put those they arrested, so gave up. They just watched, jealously. As I fired at the crowd. I caught sight of a group of four or five youths, huddled together. This did not look good, as I had stopped firing for a few seconds the troops around me knew something was not right so everyone was looking to try and see what was about to happen. A soldier who was up on top of my mobile water pistol, screamed, Petrol bombs. That was all it took for hell to open up on them. I fired three shots in quick succession at the group, with two of the snatch squads firing two rubber bullets all pretty much all at the same time. The result was brilliant. The whole group took off and went through the shop window they were standing in front off. We drove forward at them to disperse the crowd, it made snatching them easier. The fuel OMG 97 they were about to throw at us, split and ignited, There was a big fireball that blew out the remaining sheet of glass in the shop front. One of our potential attackers fell to the ground and not through the window, he was now covered with broken glass and blood was running from a cut on his face. From where I was sitting I couldnt see what damage had been done and didnt really care either. The remaining four lads were now engulfed in the fireball inside the shop. I did think about letting the fuckers burn, but then the smell of burning flesh was nasty whether it was friend or foe, so I fired several more shots into the shop. As the snatch squad raced in to cuff and arrest the fire bombers they turned the lad on the floor over. He was a mess, a shared of glass had gone into his right eye, another had gone into his throat. He was not going to make it. We tried but he was dead before the ambulance could get through the stone throwing crowd. I suppose it was justice, their own man dead because of their actions. The remaining four
