A sailor reported for military operation (7)
I believe the answer is:
assault
'military operation' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a sailor reported' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'salt' (salt is a kind of sailor).
'reported' shows a homophone (sound like).
'salt' sounds like 'ssault'.
'a'+'ssault'='ASSAULT'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assault that I've seen before include "Sort of course" , "Launch an attack on" , "Physical attack" , "The fool starts the attack" , "Attack physically" .)