"I never even touched a rifle or anything like that before I got here," said Kortmeyer.

By here he means Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard.

Leading Seaman Kortmeyer, one of the top three drillers in his Navy drill team, is weeks away from heading to Navy Builder School in Mississippi. He was asked by a non-Navy drill instructor to be involved in the record-setting drill event staged at George Mason University in Fairfax.

"It's going to be something really cool that I can show my kids," said Kortmeyer.

"I never thought I'd be in something like the (Guinness book)."

Kortmeyer was one of two Guardsmen courted to take part in the event staged by Constantine Wilson, the owner and founder of New Guard America.

New Guard America is a private, professional drilling company located in the D.C. area that performs at high schools, colleges and various contracted events throughout the region.

Wilson also works with the Ceremonial Guard, creating new drill routines for the young guardsmen and making changes to ones that grow stale.

Despite dislocating a finger on his left hand just days before, the ambitious Wilson recruited the Guardsmen to help him attempt to set or break five or six separate world drilling records.

A driller with 26 years experience, Wilson is the only professional driller in the world consistently setting records.

"The first time I saw a drill team I thought 'wow, that looks really cool,'" said Wilson.

"I've been doing it ever since."

Kortmeyer, along with Wilson, Navy Airman Bryan Cortez and New Guard America guardsman Abraham Robbins, drilled well into the evening for a week in preparation for the events.

"As a foursome, the group was seeking a record setting of "Most Consecutive Shoulder Passes."

Shoulder passes involve drillers tossing spinning rifles through the air to one another while simultaneously catching airborne rifles flying toward them.

In a George Mason University gym, with a crowd of Reserve Officers' Training Corps students and college athletes watching closely, the group got underway.

Video cameras and lighting were set up, and witnesses certified weapons and gloves for correct weight and material.

To be considered for the drilling records, rifles must be at least nine pounds, six ounces and gloves can only be made of cotton, with no adhesives allowed except for water.

Wilson made the first record attempt, performing 59 consecutive "left-to-right skip drills" in one minute.

His injured finger appeared to give him trouble from the start.

"That hurt," said Wilson after finishing the action.

Next, Robbins attempted to break his own world record for the most consecutive "hoopdies" in a minute.

His previous record was 99 in one minute, a record that he failed to match by one on his first try.

"My arm is so stiff. It feels like beef jerky," Robbins said afterwards.

"The hardest thing to do is do it twice.

"You always want to get it on the first try."

He said he can perform consecutive hoopdies for much longer than one minute, but the higher pace of trying to fit them all into one minute makes the action much more tiring.

On his second and final attempt, he only managed to tie his previous record of 99.

"At least I matched it," said Robbins.

"That 99 is teasing me."

The group then made three attempts at a record for "most consecutive shoulder passes."

They failed after about forty seconds on their first two tries, dropping a rifle after a misplaced toss on the first try and then falling short of their goal again the second time when two rifles hit in midair.

On the third and final attempt, the drillers achieved their goal.

They successfully set a world record by performing 25 consecutive shoulder passes.

Wilson and Robbins went on to set a record for a drilling long throw action where two drillers exchange weapons that spin twice in midair while traveling of a distance of more than 18 feet.

As Cortez and Kortmeyer prepare to leave the Ceremonial Guard after two years and begin their jobs in the fleet, their Guinness record-setting drilling will take its place as just another interesting Navy story they can, like Kortmeyer said, tell their kids about.

As for Wilson and Robbins, who've already invested a large chunk of their lives in professional drilling, it most certainly will not be the last time they drill their way into the record books.