Disease maybe soldier will catch? Not here (6)
I believe the answer is:
absent
'not here' is the definition.
(absent from this place)
'disease maybe soldier will catch?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'disease' could be 'bse' (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, mad cow disease) and 'bse' is located in the answer.
'soldier' could be 'ant' (soldier is a type of ant) and 'ant' is located in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for absent that I've seen before include "Missing or dreamy" , "Forgetful, with mind on other things" , "Inattentive" , "AWOL" , "Away" .)