Close Quarters
While you have the necessary training to employ heavy weapons, you believe it's important to keep a backup for when foes get too close. You might be a veteran Veskarium trooper who knows their way around a doshko or a devotee of Zon-Shelyn dealing holy wrath with a painglaive. Blows with heavy close combat weapons hinder your foes just as effectively as when you fire a rotolaser or a missile launcher.
As long as you're wielding a two-handed melee weapon, you meet the requirements for soldier feats that require an area weapon. When using a soldier feat, you can treat any two-handed melee weapon you're wielding as having the area (burst 5 feet), allowing you to area fire with the weapon centering the burst on a corner of a square you occupy, and you are unaffected by attacks with that weapon. You can make a melee Strike with a two-handed melee weapon instead of a ranged Strike with primary target or any soldier feat. In addition, you gain the Whirling Swipe feat.
As long as you're wielding a two-handed melee weapon, you meet the requirements for soldier feats that require an area weapon. When using a soldier feat, you can treat any two-handed melee weapon you're wielding as having the area (burst 5 feet), allowing you to area fire with the weapon centering the burst on a corner of a square you occupy, and you are unaffected by attacks with that weapon. You can make a melee Strike with a two-handed melee weapon instead of a ranged Strike with primary target or any soldier feat. In addition, you gain the Whirling Swipe feat.