Desert soldier carrying old boy (4)
I believe the answer is:
gobi
'desert' is the definition.
(Gobi is an example)
'soldier carrying old boy' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'gi' (government issue or general issue**).
'carrying' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'old boy' becomes 'ob'.
'gi' enclosing 'ob' is 'GOBI'.
(Other definitions for gobi that I've seen before include "very dry place" , "Desert, mostly in Mongolia" , "Desert in China/Mongolia; cauliflower (Ind.)" , "Asiatic barren plateau which means 'stony desert'" , "The . . . . Desert is a barren plateau of S Mongolia and N China" .)