The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 letter word OTHER RANKS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
O
T
H
E
R
R
A
N
K
S
More clues leading to the result OTHER RANKS
- This girl’s supporting books, concealing bad ratings
- NCOs rest, interrupted by offensive
- Soldiers love appreciation, when blunder’s covered up
- Soldiers circle armoured vehicles around German man
- Enlisted troops from different stations
- Soldiers initially observe German man breaking into military vehicles
- … enlisted troops from separate castes
- Slip into TA, chasing old soldiers
- Soldiers taking German gentleman in old military vehicles
- Rest broken by revolting soldiers
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "men" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case men = other ranks.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.