Let's put this in perspective. The characters all of you are referencing from FFVII, were not your typical soldier people. In fact, when you have control of them, not a single one is part of Soldier (except in Crisis Core). Trying to say, "Oh Sephiroth was Soldier so clearly Soldier." Even when he was a member, he far outclassed any other member. That's not a good standard.

In FFVIII, you also have the top of the line of SeeD. But guess what, they all stayed in SeeD while the people you're all talking about left Soldier. And Seifer was never a member of SeeD, just like Cloud was never actually Soldier

THE JACKEL