Expert: James Bell - 9/28/2008

Question
Hi James

Well my question is not excatly realted to career but Military useage.

I wnat to know ow to speak the Military time correctly

eg: 22:35 = what? do we say its 22 35 hundered hours ?

what about 0001 (12:01am) or  1005 ? (ten o five hundered hours ? )

Hope you got my point.

Its one thing to understand the Military time but another on how to speak it correctly

Need you assistance on this issue any help or direction to links with answer to this specific question would be much appriciated.

Ps: for 12am do you use 2400 or 0000 in normal military time

Thanks

Answer
Dimitrz -

Military time is relatively easy.  The first twelve hours (AM) are normal ... 0100 (spoken oh-one-hundred hours), 0200, 0300, etc.  Noon is 1200 (spoken twelve-hundred hours).  At 1:00 PM you continue into the second twelve hours of the day ... 1300, 1400, 1500, etc.  To convert the evening hours, simply add 12 to the hour ... 6:00 PM = 6+12 = 1800 hours.

Midnight is tricky.  If I tell you to meet me at Friday, midnight, do I mean midnight Thursday to Friday, or Friday to Saturday?  Officially. there is no 2400 time.  There is 2359, then there is 0000, which starts the next day.  But, again, to avoid confusion, nothing will ever be scheduled at 0000 hours.  You will either be somewhere at 2359 Thursday, or 0001 Friday.

When I used to fly, our departure time was based on Zulu (Greenwich Mean Time).  The East Coast is five hours off of Zulu (EDT).  If I had a 1900 (spoken nineteen-hundred hours)departure, that would be 0000 Zulu, which you can't have.  Therefore, our departure time was adjusted to 1701 local, which was 0001 Zulu.

Other examples based on your question ...
2235 = twenty-two thirty five (10:35 PM)
1005 = ten oh-five (10:05 AM)
1830 = eighteen thirty (6:30 PM)

Once you get used to it, it's pretty easy.

Sincerely,
James Bell