old soldier
noun
A male ex-soldier.More than 400 people had packed into the 14 th-century church, including old soldiers from the Royal Marines, Coldstream Guards and other regiments....
- Most nights middle-aged revolutionaries may be found sitting around grumbling about the morals of today's young ‘hoodies’ like so many old soldiers at a British Legion.
- I'm an old soldier, a paratrooper, this is my third war, including Yom Kippur and Beirut in 1982.
Phrases
come (or play) the old soldier