Praise from former partner to officer protecting soldiers (9)
I believe the answer is:
extolment
'praise' is the definition.
(I know that praise can be written as extolment)
'former partner to officer protecting soldiers' is the wordplay.
'former partner' becomes 'ex' (an ex-partner).
'officer' becomes 'lt' (abbreviation for lieutenant).
'protecting' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are held or protected).
'soldiers' becomes 'men' (men can mean a group of soldiers).
'lt' enclosing 'men' is 'lment'.
'ex'+'to'+'lment'='EXTOLMENT'
'from' is the link.
(Another definition for extolment that I've seen is " Praise".)