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“Old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away.”
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a World War II hero, used that phrase in his farewell address to the U.S. Congress more than 70 years ago.
But the comment doesn’t come within a country mile of describing one, old Nebraska soldier.
Tom Brewer, a native of Gordon and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, served six tours of duty in Afghanistan during his 36 years in the Army, earning a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
He served two terms in the Nebraska Legislature, famously riding a mule across his Sandhills district during his first campaign.
At 66, and after more than 70 surgeries to repair war-time wounds and a bad back, Brewer should be relaxing in an easy chair or a swivel seat in a fishing boat.
But instead, he’s embarked on five goodwill/ fact-finding trips to Ukraine since the war broke out there in 2022. His goal: to see first-hand if American aid is helping, and, overall, how a freedom-seeking country he describes as much like Nebraska is enduring under a constant onslaught.
He’s visited hospitals, soup kitchens, government and agriculture officials and bombed out villages to show Americans care. Every trip, he heads to the front – dodging missiles and drones and sleeping in storm cellars to do it – to see what Ukrainian fighters really need to repel Putin’s invading Russian Army.
Not exactly fading away. As one of the few Americans to visit the trenches and artillery batteries, he relates, when he returns, what he’s seen and heard to the Nebraska delegation in Congress, as well as to the U.S. State Department officials. It’s valuable information.
Brewer said he feels that Ukrainians have the same kind of quest-for-democracy spirit as he imagines the badly outnumbered colonial militia did in their battle for independence against the British.
Despite the pull-back of some U.S. aid and suggestions from the Trump Administration that Ukraine needs to give up some of his territory to the Russians, Brewer said he sees no quit in the citizens of the war-torn country.
“Even though they’ve been through three years of war, and even though they’ve lost an estimated 100,000 civilian and military lives, their spirit is still passionate about staying free,” he said after this latest trip.
“You’re not going to see the Ukrainian people say ‘we’ve had enough,’” Brewer said. “I think they’ll fight until they have nothing left to fight with.”
Right now, he said, there’s a huge chess game going on between the Russians, the Ukrainians and President Donald Trump, who is trying to mediate a ceasefire and peace.
But Putin, Brewer said, has never been truthful in his negotiations, and may be engaging in a delaying tactic to buy time to organize a big offensive this summer.
He said that it’s important that the U.S., as well as Europe, continue to provide aid to Ukraine, because if Putin isn’t stopped now, what’s to prevent him from pushing on and trying to annex more countries?
Brewer often points out that America hasn’t lost one soldier in Ukraine, and that a larger, wider war is risked if the conflict doesn’t stop there. His advice – squeeze the faltering Russian economy harder, and give Ukraine longer-range missiles to push the invading army back.
This war will shape the future of Europe and the future of democracy, Brewer said, and the only way to defeat the Russians is on the battlefield.
“And the only way to do that is give them the weapons to do it,” he said.
Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he loves traveling and writing about the state.
