My fort is approaching the end of its third year and I've had some fair difficulty with the military. At this time they're a full squad (10) speardwarves and crossbowdwarves, and for full time active duty training they have had some pretty lackluster results. All the speardwarves are level 1 with their spears, I've even removed their shields which actually got them to use them sliiiiightly more when training. The bows are the usual nightmare, having to constantly check ammunition to keep getting back on the range.
I've also had reoccurring issues with guarding burrows. Straight off the bat after embark it works fine, but once there is barracks and a little establishment dwarves refuse to man their posts, instead standing around like stunned mullets at random bedrooms or drinking areas while a rampaging werecavy shakes a few children to death.
At least this time the sieges pathed to my fort correctly. I've only had the one in near four years, and that was over two years ago. I've not seen a living goblin yet in 40.x although that's probably just luck. Traders have brought news of a goblin group laying scourge to a good 30-40 settlements lol. I think they should give my steel (and novices) a try.
I've also had troubles with dwarves (often leaders) randomly leaving squads, screwing the training regime for everyone, yet when I put them back into civilian life I find that they're still doing individual drills or Soldier (no duty). Cant reassign them to the squad captain positions straight away but I can put them back into another fresh squad (which they will eventually drop out of again).
Generally the play session has been a bit of a nightmare regarding trying myself blue in the face to get everything running smoothly. If this were 34.11 everyone would be elite or close by now. Steel or steel/leather equipment across the board and it hasn't helped.
All sparring seems to be wrestling despite toting exceptional steel spear. Somehow a little spearwork does leak in there, just very very very slowly.