Could Army Add a New Division?

[flynlead]

It seems obvious to me and almost everyone in the military that more troops are needed to sustain our thinly stretched Army. Little effective change will happen until a new congress can be voted in next January. Wouldn't the most cost effective improvement be to add at least one light infantry division to the Army?

The current military budget for 2010 is 246 billion, of which 83 billion is being used for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost to maintain one soldier there runs from estimates of $400K to $700K a year. One Pentagon estimate said that it only costs 1.2 billion a year to add 10,000 soldiers---but that seems low.

How hard would it be to add a rather spartan light infanty division, one based on the 10th Mountian Division? For 18,000 troops this might cost 7.2 billion a year, but that seems a worthwhile investment. Over the some 18 months to activate a division would there be enough officers and NCO's availible to run it without hurting the combat effectiveness of current units?

Does this idea hold water? Or should this money be better put to use building more "A-Teams" or different units?