Old soldier chopped tree in front (7)
I believe the answer is:
veteran
'old soldier' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'chopped tree in front' is the wordplay.
'chopped' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'front' becomes 'van' (I've seen this before).
'tree' is an anagram of 'eter'.
'eter' going into 'van' is 'VETERAN'.
(Other definitions for veteran that I've seen before include "Describing a pre-1905 car (or pre-1919 at a pinch?)" , "One long experienced" , "Long-serving" , "Old-stager" , "Old-timer" .)