Stationed in vile digs, initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
based
'stationed' is the definition.
('base' can be a synonym of 'station')
'vile digs initially' is the wordplay.
'vile' becomes 'base' ('base' can be a synonym of 'vile').
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'digs' is 'd'.
'base'+'d'='BASED'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for based that I've seen before include "Located" , "Founded or used as evidence" , "Worthless" , "Established" , "foundation" .)