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# Brothers serving together help renovate school in Suriname

By Staff Sgt. Theanne Tangen, U.S. ArmySouth Dakota National Guard

BROKOPONDO, Suriname - Two small-town brothers from South Dakota grew up building a tree house in their backyard. Today, Westin and Waylon Blasius, specialists in the South Dakota Army National Guard's 155th Engineer Company, are renovating a school as part of the New Horizons humanitarian exercise in Suriname.

"Growing up, we were always building things," said Waylon. "Our dad built things from scratch all the time. We learned how to use the things we have at home to build."

The Blasius brothers and fellow members of the 155th are helping the Surinamese people by renovating the Pater van der Pluym School, comprised of three buildings and a courtyard in the District of Brokopondo located approximately 40 miles south of Suriname's capitol city of Paramaribo.

Suriname and South Dakota are paired in the National Guard's 20-year-old, 65-nation State Partnership Program.

The brothers are not new to Suriname. They served side by side with the 155th for the Beyond the Horizon exercise in 2008, and they are now working together for New Horizons 2011. Both exercises are cooperative humanitarian missions between the Suriname government and U.S. Southern Command, with the goal of helping to improve the quality of life for the people of Suriname.

"The Blasius brothers are both carpenters, and with the help of Sgt. Travis Tschumper, an electrician, they will help the people of Suriname by using their military training and civilian experience to construct a covered breezeway for the students at the school, said Army Sgt. Terry Severson, project noncommissioned officer in charge.

"Building the breezeway was a challenge because the buildings were not level with each other," said Severson.

Westin and Waylon elaborate on how they met this challenge.

"We looked over the site where the breezeway needed to connect to the two buildings. Then we calculated the dimensions for the rafters," said Waylon.

"We always take a second look at our plan before we do it," said Westin. "We work well together because we have our different opinions and that makes us question one another."

The brothers both studied at South Dakota State University. They also drill with the same unit and work together at Banner Associates, a civil engineering firm in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Waylon explains the benefit of having his older brother as his mentor in his Guard and civilian career.

"Having my brother here with me all along makes it easy, because we can count on each other and we know what each other is thinking," said Waylon.

"It helps us complete the projects faster," said Westin.

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