Reward still offered for hurt cat

Downtown Scranton takes on a flair

<b>First Posted:</b> 12/7/2009<br><br>While President  ordered a troop increase in Afghanistan to begin immediately, none of the soldiers will be coming from units in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

&amp;ldquo;We don&amp;rsquo;t have any missions that are being generated as a result of the president&amp;rsquo;s decision,&amp;rdquo; said Maj. Cory Angell, deputy public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard. &amp;ldquo;There is no foreseeable impact on the Pennsylvania National Guard.&amp;rdquo;
Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., on Tuesday, Obama announced an order to add 30,000 troops to the force in Afghanistan. Warning that Taliban insurgents were gaining momentum in the country, he said the plan was calculated to create a &amp;ldquo;successful conclusion&amp;rdquo; to the war.
Angell said troops are taking the message to heart. &amp;ldquo;The importance of the mission that they&amp;rsquo;re going to execute in Afghanistan is really what they carry away from the president&amp;rsquo;s speech,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;To us as soldiers, just hearing your Commander in Chief emphasis how important a mission is, that&amp;rsquo;s what sticks in our heads.&amp;rdquo;
While none of the Guard&amp;rsquo;s units from the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre areas are affected by the troop increase, Angell noted that a Pittsburgh-based unit of 200 troops is mobilizing as planned previously.
It&amp;rsquo;s unclear, he said, what will be happening far beyond current orders. &amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s more of a big map-little map situation. The president&amp;rsquo;s looking at a big map. I&amp;rsquo;m looking at a little map,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;Outside of that, we don&amp;rsquo;t really have much of a connection to the decision at this point.&amp;rdquo;

No units from area in troop increase