You are watching an action thriller movie when suddenly the main character arranges to rendezvous at 1753 hrs. And you left scratching your head wondering what time that would be? Well no need for that anymore, welcome to military time.
Military time also known as the twenty-four-hour system originated from decans, an ancient Egyptian astronomical system. According to this system, each day had twenty-four hours that were measured from sunrise until the next morning to comprise a single day and three hundred days to make a year.

Over time humans have invented devices that keep track of time such as clocks. The oldest clock was based on the military time system by using obelisks to track the movement of the sun. With invention came newer and more accurate machines such as the mechanical clock which had a verge escapement and later on the pendulum clocks. There was a consensus that the day was made of twenty-four hours divided equally between night and day. As a result, the clock had twelve distinct markings on its face, with each day starting off at twelve midnight and the first complete round ending at twelve noon marking the day to be halfway gone, while another full circuit would bring the hour hand back to twelve midnight indicating the end of the day.

While the twelve-hour system is more entrenched in the civilian world, the twenty-four-hour system is mainly used by the military, law enforcement, and medical practitioners. This is because it is dimmed to be more accurate at recording the precise time when needed. This is as a result of confusion between AM or PM and midnight or noon when it comes to the twelve-hour system. Hence the adoption of this other cool system, let’s go ahead and learn how it works and how to tell military time.

Converting Twelve hours’ System to Military Time:

The military time system starts at 0000hrs pronounced as zero hundred hours. It’s important to note that the colon between hours and minutes that is usually found in the twelve-hour system in not used here instead, the minutes are listed directly after hours such as 0057 hours which is 12:57 am in the twelve-hour system.

To convert twelve-hour system time to military time, we only add 12 hours to the time if its PM example 2:00 PM becomes 12+2=14; therefore, 1400hours.we also add a zero at the beginning if it’s below ten AM example: 9:00 AM becomes 0900hours. The hours keep on adding up from the initial 0000 hours up to 2300 hours. This is different from the twelve-hour system that resets at 12noon to switch from AM to PM. This goes on until 2359 hours, and after one minute it resets to 0000hours to indicate the start of another day.

Speaking Military Time

It is important to note how to pronounce military time as it is different with the twelve-hour system. We usually include the suffix “hours” in areas where we would use “AM.” or “PM.” 12:30 PM becomes 1230 hours (twelve thirty hours) while 13:00 PM becomes 1300 hours (thirteen hundred hours) It is critical not to omit any zeroes that come in front of a number such as 0004 hrs., this should be pronounced as “zero zero zero four hours.” While 0400 hrs. Should be “zero four hundred hrs.” Also, if the last digit is zero, then it becomes paired with the number before it example,1230 hrs. Is “twelve thirty hours.”

Use of Zulu

Zulu is used in denoting the common time zone which is the Greenwich meridian time(GMT), this is the standard time zone used to regulate all of the clocks worldwide by determining whether the location is either ahead or behind the GMT.

Converting military time to twelve-hour system

The general principle applied is that, for all military time above 1259 hours you need to subtract twelve from the first two digits then add the colon between the second and third digit, finally add the suffix PM. example: 1405 hours becomes 14-12=2 therefore 12:05PM. For the time between 1200 hours and 1259 hours, only introduce a colon between the second and third digit and add the suffix PM in place of hours’ example,1215 hours becomes 12:15 PM For military time between 0100 hours up to 1159 hours directly introduce a colon between the second digit and the third digit. Where applicable remove the zero if it is the first digit and add a suffix AM in place of hours, example: 0345 hours becomes 3:45 AM. For the military time 0000hrs up to 0059 hours, remove the first two zeroes and replace them with 12, add a colon between the second and third digit and finally add the suffix AM in place of hours, example: 0045 hours becomes 12:45 AM

Conclusion

Military time not only sounds way cooler than twelve-hour system but it is also highly accurate. Go ahead and learn this easy way to tell military time and have fun

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printable military time conversion chart

This military time minutes chart is printable or you can download the PDF good for doing payroll when you need to covert military time hours to decimals

Military time conversion chart for payroll

If you have been tired of the confusion that surrounds the 12-hour clock format, you are reading the right article at the right time. We are going to let you know more about the importance of using the 24-hour clock and how to convert military time to standard time. So read on to find out even more about this useful yet interesting topic.

Simpler Life

If you use a 24-hour clock format, you will be able to live a simpler life. This will allow you to avoid a lot of headaches in the future related to time. Your smartphone can be also a source of confusion when it comes to telling the time, but you should also take a close look at your alarm clock. You will be able to deal with different time zones quickly and easily if you use the famous 24-hour clock format. Stopping the madness that many times surrounds a 12-hour clock format is possible when you use the 24-hour clock format.

Europe and Army Time Converter

In Europe, the 24-hour clock format is the normal way of telling the time, but America uses a 12-hour clock format. Telling the time in the military format is quite simple. For instance, if you see something like 1500, you can say that it is 3:00 p.m. right away. This is simple arithmetic, which is truly useful in everyday life. In a 24-hour clock, the pm hours will have a sub-number or something like that. You need to bear this fact in mind so you can avoid tons of confusion over time.

Time Value

You need to deal with time values and not numbers in the 24-hour clock format. For instance, the number 1600 is not 1,600, as the former is just time value. Remember that you just need to add 12 to any pm hour out there. For instance, 4 pm will be 12+ 4 = 1600 hours. Easy, isn’t it? A little subtraction will allow you to convert from military time to civilian time. If 1500 is the time, 15 – 12 = 3 pm. With the 24-hour click format, you don’t have to use any kind of pm/am designation at all, which is pretty useful.

More

The 24-hour format is superior to the 12-hour one. For instance, if you tell me that an important party will happen in ten hours, I will just add 10 to my 24-hour clock. If my current time is 8:00 a.m., I will have 1800. This is simplicity at its peak, and you will love it. Remember that the military time does not use the colon that is currently used in the 12-hour clock format out there. You need to remember that important +/- 12-hour conversion. This will make your life easier than just memorizing the conversion from time to time.

As you can see, the 24-hour clock for is quite simple. Though you might not find the 24-hour clock format better than the 12-hour clock format, the former is quite simple and efficient. This will allow the 24-hour clock format to survive over time, and the military will be reaping the benefits of this system more and more in the future. So what are you waiting for? Try the 24-hour clock format right now and start out a journey to a simpler life.