Grown-ups welcoming article defending soldiers and lackeys? (9)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Fifteensquared have:

Grown-ups welcoming article defending soldiers and lackeys ? OR (=soldiers, i.e. Other ranks) in [A (=article, in grammar) in ADULTS (=grown-ups)]; adulators are hopeless admirers, servile followers, hence “lackeys”