Very distantly related. Back in the '70s I worked at Camp Pendleton as a civilian programmer. The rooms next to us were occupied by auditors. One of 'em old me about a weird situation at one of the desert PXs - they couldn't keep medium size Kotex pads in stock. No apparent fraud was involved, but it was a mystery. A shipment would come in and they would fly off the shelves. There weren't that many females on base, either civilian or military.
A month later. they were still scratching their heads when a Gunny Sgt got wind of their investigation and took them aside. It seemed that the medium size, when soaked in oil or cleaner, was a perfect swab for the 105s when wrapped around the rammer.
Artillerymen are inventive and can adapt to any situation...LOL! I was the XO of a 105 unit in the OK Army National Guard in the early 80s but never saw the howitzer sections use Kotex for barrel swabs.