okay folks, I decided to report back - I am officially re-hooked on Dwarf Fortress!
So I've definitely managed to overcome the farming thing, and I'm really diggin' the caverns. I even faced a few Forgotten Beasts, and had a couple of dwarves die from paralysis and bleeding after contact with the deadly blood. Fun times! I think I'm even okay with the new military screen...to a degree. I mean, I managed to get my dwarves outfitted and training in the danger room, or in the entry way (thus guarding the main gate) - I can also give move and kill orders to my squads when I'm in a tight spot, or need to clear out a cavern.
I'm still having a bit of trouble with the scheduling thing, though. The interface isn't really a problem, but just conceptually, I can't tell whether it's supposed to work this way and I'm just hung up on the old way of doing stuff, or whether I'm doing it wrong.
Question: Is it normal to have dwarves jumping in and out of service? I've got a squad of 6 sword-dwarves set to be training pretty much year-round, but the number listed on the "Q-screen" always seems to vary from as many as all six being listed as "Swordmasters" to having a mix of masters and regulars, to having only 3 listed military at all. Is there a way to make them stay in the military all the time, or is there no need to do that?