Comments on: How to Tell Time Like a Soldier

By: Gail Weir

Gail Weir — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:28:54 +0000

Maybe I should have explained that the app I bought was a clock with day, date and time digitally displayed in hour, minutes and seconds. So I would always have the info in hand.

By: Gail Weir

Gail Weir — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:19:59 +0000

I just bought a living wallpaper app for my new phone and it was only after 12 pm that I found out it was only in military time. My son recently became a member of our armed forces anyway, so I thought this would be the chance to learn to think in military time! Thankyou for your help!

By: J

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 06:05:56 +0000

I grew up an Air Force brat and currently serve in the Navy. 24 hour time is easy.

Past noon? Subtract 2 from the 2nd number.

1300? 3?

- 2

It’s 1 O’clock.

1700? 7?

Subtract 1, it’s 5 O’Clock, etc.

And to the retired salt? Balls to anything still sucks. It falls into the “Zero Dark Thirty” or “Oh Stupid Hundred” reference of “Can’t go to sleep because I’m on watch, don’t have anything going on because of the hour, and bored out of my frikken gourd.”

To the guy who wants to impress chicks with military speak? Dont. It’s tacky and most of them won’t understand what you’re talking about.

Outside of the military, the only time I don’t get weird looks for 24 hour time reference is when I’m visiting friends in Canada.

By: Jared

Jared — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:36:34 +0000

Never been in the military, but the time card system that I used to enter my hours for work used military time. They just replaced it with a new system, and it now takes twice as long because you have to select AM and PM. Used to just be 0800, tab, 1700, and done. Repeat four more times, click submit, boom, done.

By: thefawb

thefawb — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:39:50 +0000

in the navy, midnight was exclusively called ‘balls’ (midnight thirty was called balls thirty”) i’m sure you can figure out why

By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:17:06 +0000

Not sure if this is the case for every European country but in Sweden you’re brought up with the 24h clock.
Also, here we actually place a colon between the numbers. For instance, right now the time is 04:13.
Actually took me quite some time to get used to the pm/am-system when I started studying in the States. People look at me as if I’m a complete moron when I use “military system” as a civilian here.

By: PapaWhisky

PapaWhisky — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:41:49 +0000

As a professional pilot for 25 years I’ve used the 24h clock for that long and then some. I switch back and forth depending upon who I’m speaking with. We also use Zulu time a lot and so I came up with my own little “trick” for converting easily.

I live in the Mountain time zone, so you must subtract 6 or 7 depending on DST. Since I’ve always worn an analog watch, I simply look directly across the face from the hour hand for 6 hours, or directly across plus one for 7 hours. When in any other time zone I simply mentally adjust the difference. For me it makes the “math” easy because it’s visual.

By: gary

gary — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 05:49:02 +0000

Another industry that uses this style a lot is transport — particularly if you are a driver. Logbooks are almost exclusively set in 24h clocks. The difference is you also have to deal with working out of your home base.

For instance if I leave the Wet Coast and head inland, then I also have to accommodate the difference when I enter a different time zone. Log book works on home time but different yards work on local time. Gets to be a hassle at times.

By: Velton

Velton — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:59:16 +0000

I’ve been using the 24 hour clock since I was in the Navy. It’s easier. I also use the date protocol too, like today is 25 Oct 2012 If you every get used to the 24 hour clock you wonder why anyone would use the 12 system.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:54:26 +0000

As a Ham radio operator, I use 24 hour time and Zulu almost daily. It is the standard used in radio, when the person you are talking to is likely in a different time zone, and often a different day.

…the thing that bothers me to no end is when people make up their own phonetic alphabet. There is standardization for a reason. ;)