Harold Buhl Jr. has been promoted to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army.

Buhl, a missile defense agency assistant director with 23 years of military service, is assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.He is the son of Mary Buhl of Beaver St., Lehighton, and Harold Buhl of E. Zimmer Drive, Walnutport.His wife, Patricia, is the daughter of John and Winifred Lee of 45th St. S., Brigantine, N.J.The colonel graduated in 1983 from Lehighton Area High School, and received a master's degree in 2000 from the University of Louisville, Ky.