Wow, thank you! Poor Bates was very nearly always right, but went about communicating that so very badly. (Well, for his audience - the other Marines on the expedition would likely see it his way right away.) There's a bit on the Siege commentary where we're told that Bates was taken back to Earth through the wormhole and didn't return to Atlantis...and then the speakers wonder if the commentary track is how the actor finds out he's out of a job and...that's about the due Bates got. So I was glad to give him a little extra here and there.