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[Hakiki]

So, I just recently switched to the newest version after not finding any time to play for quite some time, and got really overwhelmed how much has changed/is new.
I think I got the hang of most of it though, but for my issues I'll try to first list what I've done, and then what I'm having problems with.

Military screen was a pain but I've now been able to set up squads, assign their equipment, and set their training schedule.  However, I keep getting spammed by:
Urist McWigglybottom has become a *weapon*dwarf. Urist McWigglybottom has become a *civilian profession*.  This happens with sometimes days, sometimes months, gaps in between the spams, but they never seem to end.  It seems to happen to everyone in every squad.  I have assigned barracks to the squad, I have set them to train there, and for the train order in their schedule I usually set only half of the squads size to be required to train.  So that in a 6-man squad the train order would require 3-man minimum, as setting it much higher seemed to result in dwarves being stuck waiting to train since the last few guys would never show up, eventually dying/tantruming out of thirst/hunger/boredom.  Why could this behaviour be?

Also, when I am building workshops, in big workhalls (or anywhere, really) I like to keep a stockpile of the correct material nearby (ie across the hall from the workshop) for easy access for the dwarf.  However, every dwarf in every workshop seem to not take materials from the nearest pile (or the nearest to where he was when he got the order, which would be fine enough too), but rather from a place in which the coordinates differ the least.  So he would rather go for a stone that's one z-lever right below the workshop than 5 x/y coordinates over, even if he has to run 100tiles over to reach the stairs going down.  Is there a setting for this somewhere, or is it just botched in the newest version? Is there also somehow possible to ask a dwarf/workshop to prioritize using material from a specific pile? Even if it's a wrong type pile?  So that I might for example ask a mason's workshop to first utilize all the stone that is occupying tiles on a stockpile which I have designated to wood?

[Quietust]

Unless you want your soldiers to be occasionally available for civilian tasks, just set them to train year-round with 10/10 squad members (yes, even if the squad only contains 3 dwarves). Ignore the people who say that this will cause them to starve to death while they train, since they're wrong - as they get hungry, thirsty, or tired, they'll eat, drink, or sleep, remaining in Military mode the entire time. Besides, once a dwarf reaches Elite skill in their weapon, the game will automatically disable all of their labors anyways (a holdover from 40d when doing so would permanently lock them in the military), and as an added bonus they'll also stop getting unhappy thoughts from long patrol duty. The only time the squad member count matters is when you're scheduling them to defend an area, and in that case you might want to try also scheduling them to train at the same time so that they don't switch to civilian mode when taking a break.

As for where a dwarf gets materials, there are no special settings - the dwarf always picks whatever is closest, "as the bird flies" (provided the bird can fly through solid rock), to where they are standing. If you want to optimize layout, consider placing input/output stockpiles directly above/below the workshops and providing nearby staircases for access.

[Dutchling]

you could assign burrows to them, covering the workshop, the stockpile (and possibly bedroom/dining hall/food stockpile)