About Military Time

Military time is a way of reading a clock on a 24-hour system instead of the standard two 12-hour systems in a single day. The purpose of military time is to avoid confusion between a.m. and p.m. Military time is used by the U.S. military, as well as most of the world. Only a few countries, including the United States and Canada, still use the 12-hour clock on a day-to-day basis.

Features

Military time is stated as a four-digit number. The first two numbers are the hour while the final two numbers are the minutes. There is no colon between the numbers as with the 12-hour clock. During the morning hours, military time looks just like 12-hour clock time, except it is written as a four-digit number. For example, 7:30 a.m. is 0730 in military time. In the afternoon and evening, the hours are counted as 13 to 24 instead of starting over and counting them from 1 to 12 again. For example, 9:45 p.m. is 2145 in military time.

Misconceptions

There is some disagreement about the identification of midnight in military time. It can be designated as 0000 or 2400. Many people use both ways. However, electronic devices always reset to 0000 at midnight. Some people use 2400 when talking about midnight on the day that just ended while saying 0000 when talking about midnight at the start of a new day.

Function

When military time is on the hour, it is read in the hundreds. Sometimes the word "hours" is added to the end. For example, 0900 is "nine hundred hours" and 1700 is "seventeen hundred hours." This is maintained even when it seems counter-intuitive. 1000 is "ten hundred hours" and 2000 is "twenty hundred hours." When minutes are involved, the four-digit military time is read as two different two-digit numbers. 0615 is "oh-six fifteen" and 2155 is "twenty-one fifty-five."

Benefits

Military time is used by the military as well as numerous other organizations. Police, firefighters and hospitals also use military time, since it makes time references accurate. Many train, bus, ferry and airplane schedules use military time to avoid confusion over arrivals and departures. In many parts of the world, outside of North America, military time is used by everyone. The designations of a.m. and p.m. are completely foreign to them.

Identification

Military time is referred to by different names by different people. It is also called army time, railroad time, astronomical time and a 24-hour clock.