Tom Brewer (born August 6, 1958) is an Oglala American retired military officer and politician who served as a member of the Nebraska Legislature from the 43rd legislative district.

He focused on agribusiness in FFA, working at a local grain elevator and also competing in parliamentary procedure, meats judging, welding, and public speaking.

He credits this public speaking experience and other skills taught in FFA as having prepared him for his later military service and time as a state legislator.

As a student at Doane, he competed in cross country running and track, being named to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-Conference teams.

He is a graduate of the United States Army War College Defense Strategy Course and holds a Master's Degree from that institution.

[4] After attending U.S. Army Field Artillery School and earning the Air Assault and Airborne qualifications, he was commissioned an infantry officer in 1983.

[8] On October 12, 2003, Brewer was shot six times and received numerous shrapnel injuries in an engagement at a decommissioned Soviet tank depot, later dubbed the "Battle of the Bone Yard.

While carrying out this assignment on December 16, 2011, the day before he was scheduled to return home, he was again severely injured after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle.

[15] Brewer has been supportive of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022, explaining that he serves as a "pipeline to share information" with members of Congress on the war.

[16] He began making visits to the country's frontlines in May 2022 to assist in training the Armed Forces of Ukraine and delivering supplies.

[20] During four trips to Ukraine in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Brewer "zig-zagged... through the country, from a hotel overlooking Maidan Square to the controlled border zone in the far northeast," taking him closer to the conflict than any other elected official from the United States.

[24] He has also advocated for the United States to embed advisors who could learn from the Ukrainian experience with drones and avoid American losses in a future conflict.

[33][34][35] His Legislative Bill 1394 passed in 2024, exempting National Guard drill and annual training pay from Nebraska income tax.

Former United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke in support of the proposal at a public hearing on the bill, which ultimately passed in 2024 on a vote of 44-0.

[36] Citing the effects of his own military service as a motivation, Brewer introduced successful legislation to improve support for emergency responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

[44] In 2021, Brewer made national news for his successful efforts to secure the return of Chief Standing Bear's pipe tomahawk from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.

[53] Over his two terms in office, Brewer introduced a number of bills attempting to limit the expansion of industrial wind turbines in rural Nebraska.

[55] As a freshman senator in 2017, Brewer introduced several unsuccessful firearms-related bills, including a constitutional carry proposal.

He campaigned from the back of a mule, riding 500 miles across the Nebraska Sandhills in a legislative district larger than New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined.

[67][68][69][70] An article published by the National Conference of State Legislatures described the team's training regimen and their different political points of view, and the relationship-building on the excursion that had a subsequent effect on the climbers' legislative relationships.

[8] After previously taking first place as a military servicemember in 1997, he returned to a world sniper competition in Bulgaria as a sitting state senator in 2018.