Soldier’s daughter retreats in confusion (6,3)
I believe the answer is:
desert rat
'soldier's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'daughter retreats in confusion' is the wordplay.
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'in confusion' is an anagram indicator.
'retreats' with letters rearranged gives 'esertrat'.
'd'+'esertrat'='DESERT RAT'
(Other definitions for desert rat that I've seen before include "Old soldier" , "See soldier" , "Soldier in the North African campaign (nineteen forty one to nineteen forty two)" , "Fighting man" , "Jerboa - WW2 British soldier in North Africa" .)