In all honesty Skydiver..... there is no way that they would use a 'frontline' base, which really SGC is, as a training ground for cadets. Let alone block up the normal working of the unit, especially a unit which is supposedly the first line of defence against an enemy.
However, they probably would do their own exercise for something like a foothold situation, so that everyone knows what they're supposed to do and where they're supposed to be. They might well incoporate something like that into a training exercise for newbies to the unit. But having worked in military logistics and planned such training exercises myself, I know that it would very much diminish the effectiveness of such a unit to do it just for a few recruits. It's likely that they would just put them through their paces in a simulated atmosphere as they did at the beginning and then when they were allotted their spots in an SG team, they would then receive something like foothold training in the same way as the regular SG members.
Then again, I also would have questioned them introducing new recruits straight out of the academy into something like this at all. It just doesn't make sense. Frontline special forces troops do have to be recruited, but it's usually done from the longer serving, more experienced military, not raw cadets or green recruits. And they have to go through a VERY rigorous training. I served with the SAS in what used to be their training facility at Hereford twice and I saw what these guys went through to join and what those cadets in the episode did was chickenfeed compared to it. I am pretty sure that the US special forces also have the same rigorous training, but whether they recruit straight from the general public who volunteer at arecruiting office or whether they do it from already trained troops I don't know.
I do know that the British Special Forces are acknowledged as one of the finest, if not the finest in the world. At the height of the cold war, only the Spetznaz (Russian Special Forces) were better. Therefore recruiting only from already trained and experienced soldiers does work better than trying to train kids who are just off the streets or still at an officer's academy.
As an afterthought, I really don't think that the point of the Stargate show is the characters at all. The characters are absolutely necessary of course, but the CONCEPT of the Stargate, the origins of the human species on earth and how they might be linked into other worlds and ancient civilisations and where an horrific enemy might have played a part in all this is the POINT.
The characters are supposed to drive the concept NOT the other way around. This wasn't intended to be a space soap opera, where the lives and loves of the characters take priority over anything else.
I think again that there are two kinds of Stargate fans..... the one's who loved the concept and who wanted that to be the theme throughout, with characters capable of driving that but not overwhelming it (the way that Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c have) and the more vociferous, character loving fans, who watch it for the characters and everything else is background for them. This kind of fan is the sort that is obsessed about anything and everything to do with the characters and ultimately the actors and for them the show is just a vehicle for the actors and very little else.
If you have the latter, then you will have shows in which people will just watch for whatever SG1 does and they will grumble at but forgive any lack of continuity in storyline because they have got another glimpse of their heroes. I think that a lot of this was borne out when MS announced his departure (interestingly enough for the very reasons that I have always stated the show had regressed!). Many of the MS/Daniel fans are less than interested in watching it and the proof of the pudding will be in Season Six when we see just how many of those fans fall by the wayside when they discontinue their interest because their favourite character has gone.
The proof of a really sound, good show with a solid conceptual base is that it can stand whether a character leaves or not.
We shall see...... The jury is currently out.....
For the rest of us, this show has become an exercise in regret for what it started out as and what we wish it had managed to retain. And with a little bit of effort and perhaps people like Mallozzi and Co. NOT listening to the fans all the time, it might have managed it.
