1. Yes U.S. Army 1955 - during what was called the Korean Police Action, and received a 2nd Lts salary.

2. I believe it would be an excellent idea for wanna be DBAs. The problems with it would be:

a. Who pays the instructors?

b. Who pays those attending?

c. Those flunking have to repeat the training.

Considering item 2, it might be possible to convert a SQL Saturday or include a track in each SQL Saturday and have it extend over 2 days (Saturday and Sunday).. not long enough but a start.

Would Microsoft follow the example set back long, long ago by Hewlett Packard Co., where if your company desired to purchase a HP-1000 computer, you had to have one qualified, full time employee attend a week long training session. If the employee did not pass the final examination, the sales contract for the hardware would be declared null and void, and the cost of the weeks training deducted from the purchaser's down payment, which of course had to be included with the initial purchase order. But in these days I think that HP policy could/would not be adopted. Think of Microsoft refusing to sell the software for SQL Server under those conditions. Never happen.