Wow, good information there! Who knew it was just the humble clay? (A part of me was like: what!??? Are you kidding me??? DIRT? DIRT?) I remember reading some British novels as a kid. They were unabashedly not very nice in their portrayals of the "natives" that the British Empire conquered. Anyway, I still recall this description about the supposedly ignorant, savage natives using dirt to dress battle wounds. The novel made fun of them, but heck, now we're putting kaolin clay in gauze!

It sounds like the short shelf life (3 years according to the manufacturer) had in mind the rigors of military use. If the main active ingredient is inert, then stored in good condition, combat gauze could last longer than three years. I'm not sure whether I'd take the risk myself, but it's good to know nevertheless.