Men with weapon aloft to get dangerous animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
gator
'animal' is the definition.
(short for alligator)
'men with weapon' is the wordplay.
'men' becomes 'OR' (Other Ranks: non-commissioned soldiers).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'weapon' becomes 'gat' (gat is a kind of weapon).
'or' put after 'gat' is 'GATOR'.
'aloft to get dangerous' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gator that I've seen before include "Crocodilian (informal)" , "Informal American term for semi-aquatic reptile" , "beast?" , "US snapper" , "one snaps in America" .)