I had a badass miner jump towards the elf bandits she was ordered to attack. That's enthusiasm right there.
Very interesting. Where was the miner positioned in relation to the bandits?
The first time, she had to walk over a ramp, in an area that was otherwise wide open flat ground, to get to the bandits, who were about 4 tiles away when she jumped. Still on the same zlevel, no height advantage, and wasn't moving in the direction to actually use the ramp as a ramp. As far as I could see she just did it because she wanted to. She could've just as easily walked (or sprinted, as it seems all combatants do now) to the bandits.
E = elf D = dwarf #=wall +=floor ^=ramp ++++E++++++++^##
+++E++E++++++^##
+++++++++++++^##
+++++++++++++^##
+++++++++++++^D+
Then, during a second bandit attack, in an even more wide open expanse of ground clear of any ramps, I saw a second and completely different miner perform a similar jump towards bandits. So I don't think the ramp had any influence on the first miner's decision to jump.
I've since then lost the save, and this is all just what I remember of the events. Can't go into any finer science-y details like what personalities they had or what traits they had in common that could explain why they jumped. As far as I could see they just randomly decided that jumping towards the enemy was the best way to get to the action.