Dog taking lead from civilian or soldier (5)
I believe the answer is:
corgi
'dog' is the definition.
(I know that corgi is a type of dog)
'lead from civilian or soldier' is the wordplay.
'lead from' suggests taking the first letters (the letter that leads the word).
'soldier' becomes 'GI' (GI can mean a US soldier).
The initial letter of 'civilian' is 'c'.
'c'+'or'+'gi'='CORGI'
'taking' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for corgi that I've seen before include "Welsh breed of short-legged dog" , "Welsh breen of dog" , "Little dog" , "Queen's dog?" , "found in the kennels" .)