Actually, the standard is given for a two-pace, which is 1.5m (I don't recall if there was anything on the "measurement methodology" in the "specs", but I believe it's heel to heel). The standard "beat" of marching troops is 90 per minute, this yields the standard speed of advance (homework :-) ), which is not an unimpotant "value" for military planning. Such march is assumed with a full bag (?) plus gun, cartridges, spade and a few other heavy and clumsy and ugly, mostly metal stuff - this is popularly called something like "full field". Funnily, the total weight of equipment is given in manuals, too, although the content changes quite often...

There are various other things normalised, too. The funniest value I have seen was the standard time for a single soldier to entrench a tank using his spade (we still use T-72)... (I don't remember the exact value but it was several days)

Oh how good my kids won't have to pass the compulsory military service...

JW