How to Tell Military Time |
| Military time numbers the 24 hours of the day from 1 to 24, rather than repeating the cycle of 12 hours twice. In several countries, time is kept on this 24-hour cycle. |
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| 1. | Note that the military clock begins with 0000 hours, sometimes called 2400 hours. When spoken aloud, this is said, "twenty-four hundred hours," which is the equivalent of midnight. |
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| 2. | Name morning hours as follows: 1 a.m. is 0100 hours, called "oh one hundred hours"; 2 a.m. is 0200, "oh two hundred hours"; and so forth. This pattern continues for the morning hours just as with the standard method of telling time until noon, which is 1200 hours ("twelve hundred hours"). |
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| 3. | Remember that military time continues to ascend for the afternoon hours rather than beginning a new 12-hour cycle. Thus, 1 p.m. is now 1300 hours, or "thirteen hundred hours"; 2 p.m. is 1400 hours; and so forth. This pattern continues until midnight, at which point the military clock begins again. |
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| 4. | Determine afternoon hours in military time simply by subtracting 1200 from them. For example, 1800 hours is 6 p.m. in standard time: 1800-1200=600; 2200 hours is 10 p.m.: 2200-1200=1000. |
