Stephen Earle Buyer was born in Rensselaer, Indiana, November 26, 1958 and received his B.S. degree from The Citadel in Charlestown, South Carolina in 1980 and his law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1984. He served in the United States Army from 1984 to 1987 and in the Army Reserve from 1980 to 2010, and as legal counsel for the 22nd Theater Army in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was appointed Indiana state deputy attorney general from 1987 to 1988 and was elected in 1992 to represent Indiana's 5th district in the U.S. House of Representatives, then in 2002 to represent the 4th district which he served until his retirement in January 2011. He served on the Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, National Security, and Veterans Affairs Committees, chairing the Veterans Affairs Committee from 2005 to 2007, and was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1998 to conduct the impeachment proceedings of President William Jefferson Clinton. He was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Twelfth Congress in 2010.