Before I posted this, I searched the eternal suggestions as well as this thread for this issues relating to what I call the MAW Bug: aka... Miner, Ambusher, Woodcutter Bug. I should probably call it the MAWM bug: Miner, Ambusher, Woodcutter, Militia bug.
Anyways
People have described this issue as a bug, some say the game was intended to operate this way, with miners, ambushers, woodcutters dropping their equipment and/or refusing to pick up equipment when changing from military mode to laborer mode (even if uniform is worn over clothing). It seems counter-intuitive that a dwarf should be removed from the militia, and re-added to fix some of these problems.
I'm not the only one who has experienced said issue. In fact Splinterz Dwarf Therapist has it coded to exclude these labors from being assigned to each other for the added reason that if a miner wishes to do carpentry, he can't, because he's currently carrying a pick.
I consider it a "bug" where others might disagree, but it has created situations where it's pointless to try to have a dwarf who may be good at chopping wood down, and mining, and hunting, have all those labors, and/or be in the militia. The militia one is what really gets me, because according to the wikipedia entry, the MINING labor increases the PICK use skill, which is great for in combat (
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Pick), same goes for the hunter who increases his markmanship skill, and the woodcutter who chops with his axe... it's just extremely frustrating to not find a workaround...
So is there any hope that next release I can assign my miners to militia as well as be maybe a wood chopper too without any issues? I would think a simple if check (for militia) for if the equipment currently being carried could be used for the military uniform, to not drop it, but keep it, should do.
References of other people having issue
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=123769.msg4091194#msg4091194http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=113093.msg3441776#msg344177http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=122428.0http://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/1mykrn/tip_the_mmmm_squad_miner_militia_mover_mason/