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[Swyftfeet]

 I'm a first time player and am getting stuck. Ive watched a lot of videos but some things have changed and am not able to piece it together in the arrangement I have.

Here is what I do:
Created 10 each of:
Mail Shirts
Cloaks
Hoods
Leggings
Steel helms
Wood Shields
Low Boots
Gloves
Leather armor
Steel Axes

I have created a militia leader
Created a captain with axe skill
assigned immigrants with a skill in axes to the squad
Create a new Uniform (axeDwarfs) using the above items
Assign the Uniform to the squad
I make a ArmorStand in a 10x10 room  that is between the Inner bridge and outer bridge.  also contained in this area is the trade depot.
Q on the armor stand
hit T or whatever the train key was
most of them rush to the room, but dont seem to be doing much. thats issue 1...

I really dont get the orders screen I guess which is the heart of my problems, I get how to make them active all the time which I believe is default, but how do you give them breaks?

I also have 2 Burrows, DANGER for all the Civs and VAMPIRE for the vamp that found his way to the fort. I created an alert DANGER that should send all the civs to the danger room, and that works but iirc the vamp leaves his burrow and doesnt go back to VAMPIRE burrow after the alert. I want to keep him from eating people so I made a burrow in an abandoned Magnetite vein that I mined. 

I also guess I didn't make enough pants cause I had a tantrum when I chose to replace armor instead of over clothing... I was just trying to get them to put the helms on...

Anyway, my desire is to have the military function like a militia.  Work normal civilian jobs until I call an alert. Get all the civs inside calling the DANGER alert, raise outer Drawbridge(keeping the goblins out), hopefully the military is gears up quickly or is already dressed for battle in the Armory.  Raise the inner bridge, let the civs loose to do stuff safely inside.  Then drop the outer drawbridge and get all dwarfy on some goblins with the battle dwarves from the armory.  My first siege ended up getting bored and left before I go the militia clothed up(made the pants), in place and ready to fight.

Now they have thier pants, but I don't know how to put them on break and I think they are getting upset again. UGH

Sorry for the rambling...

[skyte100]

The default is actually inactive. They take breaks if active when they no standing orders. In which case they will either perform civilian jobs, lounge about in meeting areas, or perform combat training. Basically go into scheduling and cancel the order for that month. But theres a bug that causes them to get mad about training and even those when there are no orders. I think there is a fix in dfhack. If they are set to replace their clothing then they will be fully armored around the clock.

[TruePikachu]

As was said, the default for the milita is no schedule.

From the Military screen, I believe it is "s" to go to the Scheduling; alter the Train schedules under Active (schedule name) to I recommend 7 active members. Then, from either the "a"lerts milita screen, or the milita ordering panel, you can select the schedule for them to follow.

Also see http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Military

EDIT: My memory might be a slight bit fuzzy, but the Wiki should help.

[thegoatgod_pan]

The leather armor is no good, it will just mess with the rest of uniform by taking up the space of mailshirts and breastplates, it is really only meant for archers. Also, although this is damn exploity, assigning multiple shields to each dwarf works wonders: they don't have any problem juggling them and make block attempts with all of them in turn (this might get obsoleted by the combat rewrite in the next version)

To give your army breaks, get into the orders screen, the default order is training for 10/10 dwarves. Use the -+\keys to adjust this to a different ratio (I like 7/10) and assign this ration to each of the 12 months. Now each month of the 10, 7 will train and the other 3 will rest (assuming our squads have  10 dwarves in them, if less, adjust accordingly)

You really dont want them working civilian jobs all too much, it takes a surprisingly long time for a dwarf to find all his or her gear, and seemingly much longer when youu desperately need them to be holding a chokepoint. Worse, you might find dwarves dawdling at different rates, so that they meet the goblins one at a time, rather than altogether.

Keep your militia focused on training and they will perform admirably. let them slack off or work civilian jobs and they will likely die.

As far as burrows go, panic rooms are great for uber emergencies (say the militia got slaughtered or there is a plague spreading from the caverns) but 90% of the time, you will want your fort running normally, when a threat is present, and not huddling in a panic room. As such it is very worthwhile to make a burrow encompassing, say, everything in sight but tthe surface and the cavern--remember that burrows can be designated across z-levels. Then when goblins come, the civilian alarm will keep the workers working, but will also keep them from dangerous spots like the surface

[Werdna]

Important side note re: dealing with goblins/your militia:

You fortress wealth and population are what trigger the goblins.  Therefore, it is important to focus on military training as soon as you can spare the dwarves, and on early fortress defense (walls, moats, bridges, and traps).  Avoid mass production and export of valuable items and avoid blinging out the fort (engravings, gold statues, etc) until you have those two things secured (military with basic gear and training & physical defenses). 

[Kumis]

From what I've seen on the forum some people seem to swear by a few very well trained and equipped melee soldiers. I find, however, at least early on in the game, that spamming marksdwarves works wonders. I even put one or two in each melee unit just to soften a couple of opponents up and make for easy headshots.

So yes, marksdwarves. Just be sure to assign ammunition [f]!

[Poindexterity]

you can get by on wooden shields and hand weapons at first. just train em in groups of 2. in about a year or 2, they'll be legendary in the weapon, and you're good to go.