At least he's private (7)
I believe the answer is:
soldier
'private' is the definition.
(I know that private is a type of private)
'at least he's' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'he' could be 'sol' and 'sol' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'dier' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soldier that I've seen before include "piece of bread" , "Enlisted man or woman" , "One of man's 22 20 [SEVEN AGES]" , "Eg, private" , "Military person" .)