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Question
My brother's in JROTC and he's being a show off using all these terms that I have never heard. so if you could explain zulu time and how many hours difference it is from pst that'd be great.
Hi Angela,
"Zulu Time" is the time it is in Greenwhich, England.
The world is divided into basically 24 time zones. For easy reference in communications, a letter of the alphabet has been assigned to each time zone. The "clock" at Greenwich, England is used as the standard clock for international reference of time in communications, military, aviation, maritime and other activities that cross time zones. The letter designator for this clock is Z.
Times written in military time (24 hour format) are four digits, such as, 1830Z (6:30 pm) with the Zulu suffix.
Its official name is Coordinated Universal Time or UTC. This time zone had previously been called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) but was replaced with UTC in 1972 as the official world time standard changed.
Subtract 8 hours from the Zulu Time in order to get the equivelent PST. For example 1500Z (3:00 PM Zulu) = 0700 Hours (7:00 AM) PST.
Add 8 hours from the PST Time to get Zulu Time. For example, 0900 (9:00 AM) PST equals 1700Z (5:00 PM) Zulu
Like all military time, the 24 hour clock is used:
Midnight = 0000 hours
1:00 AM = 0100 hours
2:00 AM = 0200 hours
12:00 Noon = 1200 hours
1:00 PM = 1300 hours
2:00 PM = 1400 hours
3:00 PM = 1500 hours
5:00 PM = 1800 hours
9:00 PM = 2100 hours
Ect.
For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my military information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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