Shy, your logical and reasonable answer would avoid the response to Landing Gear..................... AS REQD.
It is up to the operator to determine how they standardise, but it is irrational to have a response to a variable that doesn't state the system state. If you are briefing navaids, an imperious wave of the hand and a response "set" is hardly a confirmation of the state of the FMC, VOR, DME, ILS etc, so it would seem to follow that a system that can spoil your day, say, like Helios, should have a confirmation of state, and the term SET is interchangeable with, "AS REQD".
Whatever the trainer says, that should be the company policy, and it should be specified as being what the owner of the ball wants, loopy or otherwise.
Take the training, nod, and if it intolerable, vote with your feet. Every system has it's idiosyncacies.. makes it far more interesting.