The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 9 letter word ROMAN CENTURION
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
O
M
A
N
C
E
N
T
U
R
I
O
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Old commander/Old commander" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old commander/old commander = roman centurion.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.