Most soldiers on special duty came back wasted (9)
I believe the answer is:
emaciated
'wasted' is the definition.
(I know that wasted can be written as emaciated)
'most soldiers on special duty came back' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'on' could be 'at' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'at' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'came' is 'emac' which is within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for emaciated that I've seen before include "Gaunt from disease or hunger" , "skinny" , "undernourished" , "Cadaverous" , "of very little substance" .)