To live among soldiers brings mockery (5)
I believe the answer is:
gibes
'mockery' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'to live among soldiers' is the wordplay.
'to live' becomes 'be' (synonyms).
'among' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are placed among others).
'soldiers' becomes 'GIs' (GI is an informal term for a US soldier).
'be' going into 'gis' is 'GIBES'.
'brings' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for gibes that I've seen before include "Mocks, jeers" , "digs" .)