Soldier reluctant initially to visit US state (6)
I believe the answer is:
marine
'soldier' is the definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
'initially to visit us state' is the wordplay.
'initially' becomes 'r' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to visit' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters visit others).
'us state' becomes 'maine' (Maine is a state of the USA).
'r' inserted inside 'maine' is 'MARINE'.
'reluctant' acts as a link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for marine that I've seen before include "Oceanic" , "Maritime - seagoing soldier" , "seaman" , "'Nautical, maritime (6)'" , "Concerned with the sea" .)