Soldiers tense making meal (6)
I believe the answer is:
repast
'meal' is the definition.
(repast can mean a meal)
'soldiers tense' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'tense' becomes 'past' (past tense is a kind of tense).
're'+'past'='REPAST'
'making' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for repast that I've seen before include "Feast, meal" , "A formal sort of meal" , "Banquet" , "A meal concerning time gone by" , "Something to eat" .)