In a recent column, I wrote about my friend, Lt. David Pingenot, who joined the U.S. Navy in 1965 partly to see a body of water larger than the Iowa stretch of the Cedar River. Pingenot became a technician for the sound surveillance system, which utilized a system of hydrophones that monitored sound channels in the ocean. He listened for Soviet vessels, especially submarines. His main duty in the Navy was all about sound. However, stationed in Keflavik, Iceland, a lot of his off-duty time also involved sound — the sound of rock and roll.

International radio broadcasting for U.S. military forces began during World War II. It expanded in the 1950s to include television, so by 1967, when Pingenot arrived in Iceland, the service was known as the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Since American military humor, especially among the enlisted, hasn’t always been the most mature or sophisticated, the men pronounce AFRTS “A-Farts.”