Protect & Serve: Stephen Bales Serves His Country & Community

Serving others—that has been the lifelong mission of retired United States Army Colonel Stephen Bales.

Nestled on approximately 92 acres of farmland in Laurel County live the Bales family, made up of Stephen, his wife, Hope and their son, Kaleb.

Stephen, who is now 55, grew up on a farm in Cold Hill, while his wife, who also grew up in Laurel County, lived on a horse farm. Throughout his entire life, Stephen’s family have been members of Locust Grove Church in Keavy, which Stephen said has given him a good, Christian foundation and morals. Stephen grew up farming on his family’s land, something that he said had instilled a solid work ethic in him even before his time in the Army.

“I knew how to work, I knew how to fix things and it really helped me in my career, especially when I was a lieutenant and a captain, when you’re down at the lower levels and doing more mechanical stuff,” he said.

Though he had some interest in the military because of a neighbor who served as a Marine Corps recruiter, it was Stephen’s junior year of high school when a recruiter for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York came to London that his interest really peaked.

“I knew going to West Point was one of the only ways I could go to college, for my parents to afford it,” he said. “We lived a good life, I had everything I needed and a lot of things I wanted, but they just weren’t going to be able to send me to college and West Point is relatively free, you just have to serve five years when you get out.”

Following his graduation from Laurel County High School in 1987, Stephen went to West Point where he received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, becoming the first born and raised native of Laurel County to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Stephen said his time at West Point was a humbling and challenging experience, but he came out with lifelong friends, and it was the start of a successful Army career which began in Missouri with his officer basic training course from August 1991 to February 1992. Stephen’s first assignment was in South Korea where he served as a lieutenant.

Several assignments later, at 28 years old, Stephen and Hope were set up on a date by their aunts and six months later, the two were married on July 4, 1998. Following their honeymoon, the newly married couple went to North Carolina and immediately Hope settled into her military spousal duties, becoming involved in Army Family Team Building and teaching classes to other military spouses.

“I could not have asked for a better spouse or partner to share an Army life with—she loved it,” Stephen said.

One of their favorite assignments, Stephen said, was Australia where the couple was stationed for two years.

Then, in November of 2005, the couple welcomed their son, Kaleb, into the world while stationed in Texas and just before Kaleb’s first birthday, Stephen was being deployed to Iraq. By the time Stephen returned to the states, his son was two years old and the two had to become reacquainted with one another.

“He wasn’t even walking when I left and then I come home and he’s running around,” Stephen said.

After his first tour overseas, Stephen said he noticed a change in the way he reacted to certain things.

“I have never been diagnosed with it (PTSD), I can’t say I have it but I remember the summer after I got home from Iraq, we moved to Louisville and we came in for the Chicken Festival in September and Main Street was just packed—we were walking down Main Street and I’ve got Kaleb on my shoulders, he was two, down where all the rides and all that stuff was, there was a big ‘boom’ and I stopped, grabbed Kaleb and I kind of hunkered down a little bit and then I looked around and realized nobody else paid any attention to it. I was the only one who reacted to it. Even to this day, if there is something odd in the road, I will avoid it because in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the biggest things that killed soldiers was IEDs (improvised explosive device).”

In 2008, Stephen was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then in 2012, when Kaleb was six years old, Stephen volunteered to go to Afghanistan for a year with United States Army Corps of Engineers where he served for one year. Stephen was promoted to colonel in 2014, followed by an assignment in South Korea and finished out his career serving in Winchester, Virginia.

In 2020, after receiving a letter thanking him for his 30 years of service in the Army, Stephen received a call from his uncle asking if he and Hope would be interested in buying their house that sits on Stephen’s grandfather’s old dairy farm—an easy “yes” for the Bales family.

“Had I got promoted again, we would probably still have been in the Army, but it worked out really good for us,” Stephen said. “We have a beautiful home right here on my grandfather’s farm and all our family is here.”

Stephen officially retired on July 31, 2021, serving 30 years and 30 days in the United States Army.

“I turned 18 on June 11, 1987, and went into West Point on July 1, 1987, so I had been 18 for 19 days before I went into West Point and up until my retirement, I had spent my entire adult life in uniform,” Stephen said.

Stephen and his family made the move back to their hometown, settling into their new home on what was formerly his grandfather’s dairy farm, and quickly got back to work, taking over Stephen’s family’s dog boarding service, Laura’s Dog & Cat Retreat, and caring for over 210 acres of farmland between his and his uncle’s land, as well as helping out his dad from time to time.

“We were home,” Stephen said.

Since settling back in Laurel County, Stephen has joined the Keavy Fire Department where he also serves as treasurer/secretary and is continuing his mission of service to others by serving his neighbors and his community through firefighting. He is also a member of the Laurel County Extension Ag Board.

His son, Kaleb, just graduated from South Laurel High School and will be attending the University of Kentucky College of Engineering in the fall. Stephen’s wife, Hope, oversees most of the work at their pet retreat. And Stephen is happy to get back to work post-retirement doing the things he enjoys most; spending time with his family, working outdoors and hunting on the family farm, all the while continuing his lifelong mission of serving others. 

Reflecting on his 30-year career, Stephen believes that his time serving in the Army has given him a new understanding of selfless service, something he believes we should all strive for, while also making him even more prideful of the country he had the opportunity to serve, something he calls an honor and a privilege.

“Selfless service is important,” he said. “Whether it is simply opening the door for someone, using your turn signal, letting someone out in traffic—serving others is important. Serving in your church, becoming a volunteer firefighter, serving your community is important. You get rewarded more than you’ll ever think.”