People are probably used to seeing the Maverick hockey team donning protective gear and heading into battle.

But here, where the only protection is a face mask and their hands hold guns instead of hockey sticks, “battle” is something entirely different — there are no sticks or pucks, no fans cheering them on and hurling insults at the refs, no nets, no penalty boxes, no ice.

On one side, five young men take positions behind barricades, poking their heads over the top to scan the battlefield. They can see their enemies, darting in and out of their own barricades, moving closer. As the enemies approach, the five defenders open fire.

“Watch out, Boe!” yells one.

“I’m hit!” yells someone across the field.

The approaching enemies have a goal: acquire a valuable object from the defenders. The defenders’ goal: stop them.

“Should I just get the thing?” an enemy offender yells. “Cover my back, I’m makin’ a run!”

He does, and is immediately hit with a barrage of fire.

His arms go up, he laughs a little, and jogs off the battlefield. The charge has failed. But there is a lesson to be learned. He’ll be told in a few minutes by a man in camouflage what he did right, and what he did wrong.

Out here, instead of coaches with whistles, men in camouflage uniforms and booming voices tell them where to go, who to shoot. The team, in short, is out of its element. And that’s the point.

The Maverick hockey team recently finished up a three-part program developed by the Minnesota State University’s ROTC program. It is aimed at teaching the team about leadership. Those guns in their hands? They shoot paintballs instead of bullets. But that’s the only part of their leadership that wasn’t the real thing.

Msg. John Moore of the university’s ROTC program said Darren Blue, one of the Mavericks’ assistant coaches, approached them with the idea of using the ROTC’s training methods with the hockey team.

“They were looking for ways to become more of a team,” Moore said.

Athletes tapping the ROTC’s expertise isn’t new. They’ve worked with teams before, including the hockey team.

But this is the first time the ROTC put together a comprehensive program for a team to address specific leadership issues.