The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word ARMY CORPS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
R
M
Y
C
O
R
P
S
More clues leading to the result ARMY CORPS
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "military formation" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case military formation = army corps.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.