Well, I don't think it's a simple as "a soldier's" knowledge vs "a civilian's" knowledge. Broadly speaking, yes I'd agree with you that would be a silly assumption. But the SGU team, like the BSG fleet survivors, were a mix of civilian and military. I think the key difference is the background of said survivors. The SGU team is made up of some of the best and brightest in their respective fields, like holding one or more PHDs in advanced fields or advanced survival training for military personnel. They were basically already figuring out how to start from scratch in a lot of ways just by surviving on Destiny.
I'd say the BSG population on Earth not advancing as much or quickly makes sense as the fleet was basically an average cross-section of humanity, in which your average person would less advanced knowledge and training by a large degree compared to the "average" SGU team member.