Hugh,
I am a former 0000-8404 (Field Corpsman), and I saw the link to the XStat Dressing on Survivalblog. I followed the link and read about it. It has a radiopaque marker in it so that it will appear on X-ray to ensure it is fully removed prior to wound closure. While this would be a force multiplier in the battle on blood loss in ‘normal’ times, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone in times when you may not have access to modern medicine. When you have an open wound (puncture, penetration, et cetera) it is very difficult to identify what is tissue and what is a small piece of surgical sponge with thrombotic tissue stuck to it. I would recommend still using celox impregnated gauze that you feed in, so you still have a ‘tail’ with which you can use to begin removing it. Even with proper flushing of the wound prior to closure celox gauze would be my preference in primitive conditions. – Brad M