GILEAD – Wearing camouflage face paint and armed with water guns, campers stood around Alpha Company leader Garrett Sanborn, 14, waiting for instructions.

Their mission at Army Hoo-ah camp Thursday was to liberate a building from the evil Plankton, enemy of SpongeBob Squarepants.

“They’re going to be throwing water balloons at you,” Sanborn coached. “We can’t go in the building. Shoot through the windows and doors. I’m going to divide you into two teams.”

Six would attack from the front, six from the sides.

Within seconds, campers ran yelling toward the building. They aimed and fired. Soon, “Plankton,” played by Army National Guard Sgt. John Knoblach, was all wet.

“I surrender,” Knoblach said, walking out with his hands in the air.

Knoblach, a mountain infantryman who has served in Iraq, runs Army Hoo-ah, a summer camp for children ages 9-14 at Bog Brook training camp. Administered by Central Maine Community College, Army Hoo-ah exposes youngsters to military training and survival skills. All but one of the 24 campers were boys.

After the mission, Knoblach reviewed how it went.

“What was your plan?”

“To flank to the right side,” one camper answered.

Alpha’s plan was to attack the front.

One boy said he was the spy. “I told them (Plankton) was up there, there was more than one room in there.”

“So you had good intelligence,” Knoblach said. “You had a good idea of what was going on, and were able to act.”

Key to any mission is to work as a team, and usually one person makes the rules, Knoblach said. “You’ve got to follow instructions even if you don’t agree with it.”

Campers said they signed up for the camp because it’s fun.

“This is better than playing video games and going to the beach,” said first-year camper McKyle Edwards, 10, of Auburn. He said he likes learning about Army missions.

Third-year camper and leader Sanborn of Auburn said he’s attended all three years it’s been offered. “I like this camp. It’s really fun. Sarge is really awesome.”

Knoblach said the biggest objective for his campers is team-building, “and to give them a sense of adventure.” He tries to nudge them out of their comfort zones so they can see what they can achieve.

On Thursday their mission was a mock plane crash or ATV accident. Youngsters learned how to treat the injured, move them to a shelter they had to make, and how to build a signal fire so a search airplane could spot them.

“To them it was just fun, but they really did well,” Knoblach said. “If I were to fall, every one of these kids would know enough to stabilize me. They don’t realize it, but this camp is not about the Army. It’s more about life skills.”

After lunch it was time for drilling, then more missions.

Campers stood in formation.

“Fall in,” Knoblach said.

“Right face, forward march,” he said. After the “group halt,” Sarge asked campers to show how the motivational word “Hoo-ah” is used.

“On the count of three I want you to give that friendly word that means everything but no. One, two, three … “

“Hoo-ah!” the campers yelled.

“Very good gentlemen, and lady.”