Releasing confidences about a former serviceman saying goodbye (5-6)
I believe the answer is:
leave-taking
'saying goodbye' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'releasing confidences about a former serviceman' is the wordplay.
'releasing confidences' becomes 'leaking' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'former serviceman' becomes 'vet' (I've seen this in another clue).
'a'+'vet'='avet'
'leaking' enclosing 'avet' is 'LEAVE-TAKING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for leave-taking that I've seen is " Act of saying goodbye".)