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[alexandrite]

I couldn't find these specific items suggested, so here's my two cents about the military UI.  Basically we need more control over the military.  Not just what they carry, but when they choose to carry it.

1) An order on the 'o' menu that toggles between "Military upgrades equipment" or "military doesn't upgrade equipment."  This simple option would prevent your dwarves from abandoning the front lines to pick up whatever shiny equipment happens to be lying around.  Even the fastest stockpile haulers can't keep up with the pace of the equipment drops when goblins and necromancers besiege you every season.  Or when your legendary weaponsmith is pumping out masterwork adamantine warhammers during an invasion. Doing this as a general order means that there'd be no need for complicated reworking of the burrow system or military system.  You just tell your dwarves to wait till after the goblins leave before they go shopping.  The 'Forbid' orders aren't enough here; drops from caravans are not forbidden, and neither are newly-crafted items, so at best you're just making sure the only place dwarves go to get new breastplates is outside, next to an enemy squad.

1a) If #1 doesn't work for you, how about a zone type for military equipment?  You'd designate certain items (or classes of item, similar to the equipment list in the military UI) to be placed in the zone (like we do for splints/bandages/whatever in a hospital), and civilian haulers would move military equipment there during peacetime.  You'd assign certain armory zones to your squads, and soldiers would only get new equipment from stuff that's actually in their assigned armory zone (if one exists).

2) Make dwarves care more about specific orders. If I want them to retreat, I should hope that stationing them behind the Trap-Filled Corridor would cause them to fall back to that location rather than keep fighting.  Combined with suggestion #1, you could get your dwarves to a defend a specific point NOW, when you need them to, rather than later when they're done spending downtime picking out new clothes or filling their waterskins.

[Cobbler89]

I like 1 better than 1a, although there would be advantages to, say, having Military-enabled stockpiles as a variant of 1a (perhaps call it 1b?), I feel 1 would be most effective whether you have 1a/b or not, since you would not want your stock of military equipment on the front lines because of danger to its suppliers but niether would you want it back where dwarves run back to the fort to replace or upgrade their equipment. Speaking of replace or upgrade, in the event a dwarf actually completely loses a piece of equipment there might be a related option "replace equipment" next to "upgrade equipment".

A related form of 2, say 2a, could be a separate order, "fall back", distinct from station in that it takes higher priority over immediate combat by essentially saying "only fight in defense, not just 'cause the enemy's right next to you, until you get to this position [selected just like being stationed]." Station and Fall Back would be essentially the same when the dwarves have not encountered enemies, but when enemies are encountered Station would basically be "rendevous here when you're done with the punk you're fighting" whereas Fall Back would be "defend yourself as necessary to get back to here". There could conceivably be an inverse form, Charge, which means in essence "push through to here, killing what you can along the way" (although that may or may not turn out to be any different than Stationing your squad behind the enemy line).

You may wish to rename the thread to give some idea of the specific solutions -- something like, "Military Fixes: Controlling Pickup Equipment and Better Stationing".

[Waparius]

A related form of 2, say 2a, could be a separate order, "fall back", distinct from station in that it takes higher priority over immediate combat by essentially saying "only fight in defense, not just 'cause the enemy's right next to you, until you get to this position [selected just like being stationed]."

I like this one. Something else that might be good, related to it would be to have military (or even non-military) dwarves that are brave, agressive or foolhardy enough enough sometimes attack invaders regardless of duty status, much like hunters will currently take pot-shots. Urist McBrawler might be an annoyance to have 'round in peacetime with her habit of starting fistfights at the drop of a xx-pigtail fibre hood-xx, but when she throws herself on a goblin ambush you not only have time to get the other civilian dorfs to safety, you also get rid of a peacetime nuisance.

Another idea - more level-headed dwarves flee towards militia dwarves or into the fortress, whichever is closest (unless said militia dwarves are fighting goblins). When enemies are distracted, dwarves are less panicked and more likely to run to safety. If there's a sufficiently charismatic dwarf nearby they should raise or lower the likelihood the other dwarves panic and run every which way.

[alexandrite]

You may wish to rename the thread to give some idea of the specific solutions -- something like, "Military Fixes: Controlling Pickup Equipment and Better Stationing".

Good idea.