The 24-Hour Military Time System

The 24-Hour Military Time System The 24-Hour Military Time System When you first hear  someone in the military give you the time, you may have to pause a few seconds, do the quick math in order to determine the time of day. Unless you grew up in the military household, you are likely not familiar with the way the military tells time. Civilians typically break up the day into AM and PM which are 2 to 12-hour blocks of the day denoting morning and afternoon/evening.   The 24-Hour Clock However, the military operates off a 24-hour clock, beginning at midnight (which is 0000 hours). So, 1 AM is zero one hundred (0100) hours, 2 AM is zero two hundred (0200) hours, and so on up until 11 PM which is 2300 hours. After noon (1200 hours) to translate the regular time in the afternoon and evening, you simply add 12 hours to be within military standards. For instance, 1 PM is 1300 hours and 5 PM is 1700 hours. Heres the whole list: Midnight (12:00 AM) - 0000 hrs1:00 AM - 0100 hrs2:00 AM - 0200 hrs3:00 AM - 0300 hrs4:00 AM - 0400 hrs5:00 AM - 0500 hrs6:00 AM - 0600 hrs7:00 AM - 0700 hrs8:00 AM - 0800 hrs9:00 AM - 0900 hrs10:00 AM - 1000 hrs11:00 AM - 1100 hrs12:00 PM - 1200 hrs1:00 PM -  1300 hrs2:00 PM -  1400 hrs3:00 PM -  1500 hrs4:00 PM -  1600 hrs5:00 PM -  1700 hrs6:00 PM -  1800 hrs7:00 PM -  1900 hrs8:00 PM -  2000 hrs9:00 PM -  2100 hrs10:00 PM - 2200 hrs11:00 PM - 2300 hrs For most daily things, military personnel uses local time as a reference. In order words, report to duty at zero seven hundred (0700), would mean you have to be at work at 7 AM, local time. The Commander wants to see you at fifteen hundred (1500) hrs, means you need to be in the Commanders office at 3 PM, local time. When using local time, the Military observes Daylight Savings Time, if recognized by the state or country that the base is located in. Designating Time Zones When it comes to operational matters (such as communications, training exercises, deployments, ship movements aircraft flights, etc.), the military must often coordinate with bases and personnel located in other time zones. To avoid confusion, in these matters, the military uses the time in Greenwich, England, which is commonly called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). However, the U.S. Military refers to this time zone as Zulu Time, and they attach the Zulu (Z) suffix, to ensure the time-zone referred to is clear. For easy reference in communications, a letter of the alphabet has been assigned to each time zone. The timezone for Greenwich, England has been assigned the letter Z. The  Military phonetic alphabet  for the letter Z is Zulu. The East Coast of the United States is denoted with the R letter (Romeo). For example, a military message or communication might state, The ship will cross into the area of operations  (AOO) at 1300Z. That means the ship would arrive in the AOO when it is 1 PM in Greenwich, England. Where this gets confusing is when you have to translate to the current time in your location. The East Coast of the United States is five hours later than Greenwich Mean Time. So, 1300Z at GMT is the same as 0800 on the East Coast. To make it even more confusing, the number changes when the United States observes Daylight Savings Time (DST). So, instead of 5 hours later than Greenwich Mean Time, the East Coast of the United States during the months of March (2nd Sunday) and November (1st Sunday) the time difference will be six hours. The East Coast of the United States will be denoted with the Q letter (Quebec) during Daylight Savings Time. Time Zone Confusion Why does the military call this time Zulu time? You would think that the world could be divided equally into 24 one-hour equals a day. However, due to the International Date Line (middle of Pacific Ocean), there are actually three more zones created and many of the zones are not exactly an hour apart (as the Sun travels). Some are only 30 to 45 minutes apart. But, somehow the system works as it is used mainly by ocean-going commerce vessels and the worlds Navies.