Military time makes frequent appearances in television shows and movies and can sound quite impressive when barked out in the middle of a tense situation. Because of the drama surrounding its use, it can make a big impact to be told to be somewhere at 1815 military time.
To civilians, military time can be a little confusing and they may wonder about military time history and whether it makes sense to use military time in their everyday lives or purchase a 24-hour analog watch. One of the most commonly asked questions about military time is, what is midnight in military time? Keep reading to find out.
What is Military Time and How Is It Used?
In the civilian world, the day has 24 hours that are broken down into two smaller groups: ante meridian, or AM, for the hours before noon; and post meridian, or PM, for the hours after noon. Using the 12-hour system requires us to add a notation of AM or PM in addition to the time. Military time expresses each hour as a four-digit numeral, so 7:30 AM is 0730 hours and 11:59 PM would be 2359 military time.
The earliest use of a 24-hour timeline dates back to Egypt’s 11th dynasty according to MilitaryTime.us. The Egyptian system used the position of constellations to designate time. However, it wasn’t particularly accurate because the length of an hour could change to ensure that day and night had an equal number of hours.
Why Do We Need Military Time?
Over the years, militaries around the world recognized the potential confusion inherent in the 12-hour system. It is clear that an operation takes two hours when it starts at 1100 hours and ends at 1300 hours than it is when it starts at 1:00 and ends at 3:00. The United States Navy adopted a 24-hour clock in 1920, followed by the US Army in 1942.
Military time is also used in police work and hospital to indicate time of death and for the same reasons. It avoids confusion and is more precise and less prone to error than a traditional clock.
What Time is Midnight in Military Time?
Anybody who has watched Zero Dark Thirty might wonder what time that refers to; in fact, one of the most commonly asked questions about military time is: What is midnight in military time?
The conundrum about midnight it is the end of the last hour of the day and the beginning of the first hour. It’s a common misconception that midnight is 2400 hours in military time, but that’s not the case. Midnight in military time is 0000 hours.
While it is possible in theory to refer to midnight as 2400 hours, standard practice assumes midnight is the start of the day and not the end of one. It is pronounced as zero hundred hours. This is according to the ISO specifying standard time in which the day begins at 00:00:00 and ends at 23:59:59. There is in fact no such time as 2400 hours.
For hours past midnight, say you wanted to let someone know to meet you at 12:30 AM, you would tell them to meet you at zero zero thirty hours, or 0030.
What Time is 1700 in Military Time?
The most important thing to remember about military time is that each day begins at midnight or 0000 hours. With each hour that passes, a number is added to the count going all the way up to 2359, which is 11:59 PM.
If you received orders to report for duty at 1700 military time, you would need to present yourself at 5:00 PM to ensure that you didn’t get in trouble.
What Time is 2200 in Military Time?
People who are accustomed to using a 12 hour clock may be confused by military time, particularly by the PM hours where there is no correlation to a traditional analog or digital clock.
2200 in military time is 10:00 PM using a 12-hour clock. A lot of military kids may have had a 2200 curfew as teenagers.
Tricks to Solve for Military Time
Converting to and from military time can be tricky for people who have never used it. Fortunately, there are some tricks that can help you figure out when to arrive if you receive an invitation or an order in military time.
The first trick involves simple substitution. For every hour up to 9:59 AM, you can simply add a zero before the first number. For example, if it says 7:30 on the clock, it would be 0730 in military time. For times starting at 10:00 AM and ending at 12:59 PM, you can simply remove the colon and say the number. 10:00 would be 1000 hours and 12:59 PM would be 1259 hours.
For times starting at 1:00 PM to 11:59 PM, the trick is to subtract 12 hours. So, if somebody told you to meet them at 2015 military time, you would subtract 12 from the first two digits, 20, to reveal that your meeting time is 8:15 PM.
Avoid Confusion with Military Time
Using a 24-hour clock can help to avoid confusion by making it clear what time of day we want to start a project or meet up with friends. Using the simple tricks here can help you translate 12-hour time to 24-hour time quickly and easily. If you have a meeting to plan and want to be sure that you won’t miss your time, a 24-hour to 12-hour converter can be useful, especially alongside our world time zone converter.
