How to Read a Military Clock
Twenty-four hundred hours. Zero eight thirty hours. Zulu minus five. These are all different military terms for telling time. These might sound a little bit strange since we only have 24 hours in a day and we aren't currently at war with the Zulus. But there is a method to telling military time and reading military clocks that involves simple math and a few new words.
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Instructions
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Understand the first 12 hours of military time are similar to traditional time. This will be your foundation for telling military time on a clock. The difference is how the time is expressed. "0800 hours" is spoken as "zero eight hundred hours," and it means 8 o'clock a.m. 0745 hours is 7:45 a.m. This is expressed all the way until 12 p.m., which is 1200 hours.
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Subtract 1200 from any time that is 1300 hours or later. This will help you translate times that are between 1 p.m. and midnight. For example, if you subtract 1200 from 1525 hours, you would get 325, which is equal to 3:25 p.m. 2312 hours minus 1200 means that it's 11:12 pm.
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Look at the globe's time zones to understand any times expressed with the word "Zulu." Zulu in this case refers to the Greenwich Mean Time zone that runs approximately through London. The military uses this as a reference point since many military movements cross several time zones and logistical coordination can be done by people nowhere near the aircraft. Therefore, if someone says an aircraft will be arriving at Zulu minus 5, it means that the aircraft is landing five hours earlier than what the current Zulu time is.
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Tips & Warnings
There are some expressions that military members use with time. "Zero dark thirty" usually means sometime very early in the morning, whereas "beer thirty" means that its almost time to get off of work and enjoy an adult beverage.
