Depends on thier needs. Giving them a crafting job to do when they're off duty helps keep them focused.
In other news, the siege was beaten, but not without losses.
One enterprising goblin beat a mnarksdwarf to a pulp after scaling the wall and slipping in the guard house, while our Warrior Poet Amsir (An assumed name, as her true name was revealed to be Mosus upon her demise,) fell distracting the enemy from the squishy civvies as they fled into the fortress, killing two goblins and a number of beak dogs and seriously injuring a half dozen other enemies before more beak dogs dragged her down, and the enemy fighters laid into her hobbled and prone body, while Axelord Rakust had his knee broken by a particularly hard hit from a silver two-handed sword.
Amsir's killers didn't escape with the bulk of the enemy survivors (who, after the main body was dispatched in an orgy of tracheotomies and beheadings, beat a hasty retreat,) due to the actions of a single brave, level 4 swordsdwarf named Olin who held her own and even killed several of the 8 attackers who had laid Amsir low.
She charged forward and slew a single troll, and in the enemy's bid to escape, they came running right into her as she had yanked her sword free of the troll's face. A trance and three kills later, and the rest of the militia fell on the murderers like the fist of an angry god and literally tore them apart.
All the while, a marksdwarf managed to somehow not get bent into a knot by a troll in melee combat and came away minus only some teeth and some bruises when another soldier bashed the troll's brains in (after the ranger had knocked them down with a successful shot with her crossbow.)
In all, considering the only other losses were picket animals who were only there to die anyway, and that my men were hideously outnumbered, this could have gone waaaaaaaay worse.
Rest well Amsir, whomever you served before matters not, for you shall be entombed with honor in our halls. Onget Copperclans, a strong lad of but 12 years who wishes to be seen as a legendary warrior, and has been given your sword that he may carry on slaughtering the High King's foes in your stead.
Now to begin the laborious task of cleaning up the corpses and slaughtering dead beak dogs.