Time to return poor soldiers (5)
I believe the answer is:
troop
'soldiers' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'time to return poor' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'to return' is a reversal indicator.
'poor' reversed gives 'roop'.
't'+'roop'='TROOP'
(Other definitions for troop that I've seen before include "Group of, eg, monkeys" , "musical group perhaps" , "Cavalry unit commanded by a captain" , "Parade" , "Porto (anag.)" .)