The replies of "Yes, sir!" came reluctantly and quietly at first.

Before long — and after some coaxing from Staff Sgt. Alonzo Williams — the Hawaii men’s basketball team cried out loud and clear.

Under the guise of a simple Friday night sleepover at coach Gib Arnold’s house in Kailua, the groggy Rainbow Warriors got quite the dawn surprise on Saturday. Marine-style digital camouflage pants lay on a table for each player and coach. What followed was a short ride to an unknown location to complete the team bonding session.

The mission: a taste of boot camp at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

"We didn’t really know at all," junior forward Joston Thomas said. "But it was fun. We came out here, we didn’t know we was gonna be with real Marines. But we came out here looking to work hard, just like we do any other Saturday at the beach … it was an honor to be around these guys."

What ensued was just a little bit different than the sand-and-water based Waikiki conditioning sessions Arnold has employed leading into the start of full practices.

The experienced former drill instructor Williams and several other Marines made the Rainbows earn their workout. It started with a high-volume, in-your-face walkthrough of the Marine Corps’ "Daily Seven" exercises, followed by marching basics and a full obstacle course competition.

"This is Marine Corps style. So it was intense, it was disciplined, and we had to do it exact," UH junior swingman Hauns Brereton said. "And if we didn’t, we had to redo it. It was a little early, and we were waking up, and they were demanding us to be loud. So it took a while to turn up the volume."

Williams said the initial shell shock was natural.

"They responded very well, actually," Williams said. "We demonstrated and they were listening and they executed each obstacle just like Marines would. They seemed like they enjoyed it and had a good time."

The standard obstacle course featured high and low metal bars to negotiate, wooden hurdles in rapid succession, a 6-foot wall to scale and a 25-foot rope to climb. Being much taller than the average Marine wasn’t necessarily an advantage.

Not everyone could make it up the "make-or-break" rope at the finish of the challenging course. The alternative was a plethora of push-ups, which the Marines administered with pleasure.

"I figured we’re kind of coming down to the end of conditioning (next week). This was a good change of pace," said Arnold, who’d heard of Kansas and a few other schools trying the technique. "Everybody finished, everybody did it. I was proud of them all."

After a trial run on the obstacle course, the 14 Rainbows were split into two teams of seven, with freshmen Shaquille Stokes and Brandon Jawato alternating picks as captains. Guard Pi‘i Minns swung the competition for Jawato’s team with a quick run-through and the anchor, Brereton, iced it with a strong climb up the rope. New forward Christian Standhardinger did well for Stokes’ team.

Once the Rainbows caught on, they impressed the Marines with crisp responses, attentiveness and tenacity. The MCBH stay closed with a tour of the Third Marine Regiment headquarters building, where fallen soldiers are remembered.

The military collaboration came about when Arnold asked church-mates Eric Barkdull, Navy Cmdr. at MCBH, and Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Ilaoa — older brother of former UH running back Nate Ilaoa — if such a thing were possible.

"Very much so," came the reply from Barkdull. Guest boot camps aren’t totally unheard of at MCBH, but to those present, it was the first time a local college team had been put through it. The visit was arranged in less than two weeks.

Arnold was welcomed back and pledged that the boot camp would become an annual tradition.

"They’ve got good attitudes. That’s all you really need to get through this," Ilaoa said. "Coach Arnold’s got them ready."