Shock about soldiers finding gear (7)
I believe the answer is:
apparel
'gear' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'shock about soldiers' is the wordplay.
'shock' becomes 'appal' ('appal' can be a synonym of 'shock'**).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'appal' placed around 're' is 'APPAREL'.
'finding' is the link.
(Other definitions for apparel that I've seen before include "it's generally put on!" , "Raiment" , "Clothing, things to wear" , "Clothes - garments" , "Formal word for clothing" .)