Military a weight class sport?

[Delta]

Rip you've voiced that the only people who should be concerned with strength to weight ratio are those in weight class sports b/c the universe doesn't care how big you are only how strong you are. Agreed. After searching this forum I found a shit ton of posts from soliders all voicing the same concerns over weight. Does this mean we could consider the military a weight class sport within reason for the sake of training?

If so, in PPST under intermediate programming you state that those concerned with strength to weight ratio should drop the volume workout. How do we modify this? Hold the total reps constant and alter the sets to 7 or 8 sets of 3 and progress by adding sets as needed until it justifies the need for another training day?

I'm imagine a multitude of solutions exist but I was hoping for one or two guidelines.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If the military is a "weight class sport", it is only because the Military has established artificial bullshit requirements and standards that make it so. There is no real utility in smaller, weaker soldiers.

[Megabreth]

It's infuriating. I almost put my wife (active duty Navy) on the Starting Strength template, but she has to burn fat (lose pounds and inches) faster than would be reasonable for SS. So I instead put her on the former CFWF template for the added conditioning. She was making nice gains in strength and losses in inches.

Well, two weeks ago her fitness instructor put her on a stupid 16-rep program + tons of cardio for the purpose of making her "burn fat faster". She protested that she wouldn't make as significant strength gains this new program, but the instructor said that his hands were tied, because he's responsible for getting her within body fat standards.

All this because squats and deadlifts make her butt larger, which in body fat measurements makes her seem like she's gaining fat. Never mind the fact that her waist is getting smaller.