• Office Sought: Representative, Indiana (4)
• Birth Date: Nov. 26, 1958
• Occupation: Attorney
• Religion: Methodist
• Web site: http://www.house.gov/buyer

Education

• The Citadel, BS
• Valparaiso University, JD

Stephen E. Buyer (pronounced BOO-yer) was born in Rensselaer, Ind., and resides in Monticello, Ind. He earned a bachelor's degree from The Citadel in South Carolina in 1980 and received an officer's commission into the medical service corps of the Army.

A delay from active duty allowed him to return to Indiana and earn his law degree at Valparaiso University in 1984.

After returning to active duty, he served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, where he was assigned to be a special assistant to the U.S. attorney in Virginia. From that role, he litigated more than 1,500 civil and criminal cases.

After leaving active duty, he returned to Indiana and worked as a deputy state attorney general and counsel to the Indiana Commodity and Warehouse Licensing Agency.

He left in 1988 to open his own law practice in Monticello, Ind.

On active reserve status, Buyer was called in the fall of 1990 to serve in the Persian Gulf. He served as legal counsel for the 22nd Theater Army in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Buyer provided legal advice to combat service support commanders in the combat zones in Saudi Arabia, southern Iraq and Kuwait. He also served as the U.S. armed forces' legal adviser at the Western Enemy Prisoner of War Camps and worked as a U.S. liaison to the International Committee of the Red Cross to ensure humane treatment of displaced civilians.

He was awarded the Bronze Star and nominated for the Humanitarian Service Medal. He continues to serve as a colonel in the Army Reserves.

He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1992.

Buyer and his wife, Joni, have two children.