Soldier wears appropriate American kit (9)
I believe the answer is:
apparatus
'kit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'soldier wears appropriate american' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'soldier' could be 'para' (paratrooper) and 'para' is found in the answer.
'appropriate' could be 'apt' (synonyms) and 'apt' is located in the leftover letters.
'american' could be 'us' (abbreviation for United States) and 'us' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for apparatus that I've seen before include "system" , "political organisation" , "Group of parts that work together to perform a function" , "Set of equipment serving a specific purpose" , "Technical kit" .)