Military leader's old mate aboard American Eagle? (9)
I believe the answer is:
alexander
'military leader's' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'old mate aboard american eagle?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'old' could be 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime) and 'ex' is found in the answer.
'american' could be 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names) and 'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lander' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alexander that I've seen before include "A Great old Macedonian king" , "Healing process based on improving posture" , "Conquering Macedonian" , "band-leader" , "A great Greek ruler?" .)