A copper gives soldiers awareness (6)
I believe the answer is:
acumen
'awareness' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a copper gives soldiers' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'copper' could be 'cu' (Cu is the chemical symbol for copper) and 'cu' is found within the answer.
'soldiers' could be 'men' (men can mean a group of soldiers) and 'men' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acumen that I've seen before include "Ability to judge and decide quickly" , "Intellectual sharpness as in business" , "Awareness" , "Keen intelligence" , "Astuteness, penetration" .)