How Does Military Time Differ From Regular Time?

The United States military uses a 24-hour clock to tell time. This clears up confusion about whether times are referring to the morning (a.m.) or afternoon (p.m.) hours.

The clock starts at midnight, which is 0000, or zero-hundred hours. (Some people will also refer to midnight as 2400, or 24-hundred hours.) Times are always referred to in hundreds of hours. For half-hours, times will be referred to as the hour and then "thirty." Example, 1:30 in the morning would be 0130, or "one-hundred thirty hours."

The clock starts at 0 instead of 12. Therefore, midnight is 0000, 1 a.m. is 0100 and so on. Beginning at 1 in the afternoon, the clock's numbers continue to rise instead of starting over. So 1 p.m. would be 1300, 2 p.m. 1400 hours and on up. The clock resets at 0000 at midnight. If you are unfamiliar with military time, subtract 12 from the time starting 1300 and up. If you hear someone say it is 1600 hours, subtract 1200, and you will know it is 4 p.m.