There is debate about what time system is the best to use, the 12-hour or 24-hour clock. Some will argue the 12-hour clock is easier to read and understand where the 24-hour clock is more involved and needs time to work out. The 24-hour clock is written and pronounced differently, and once learnt it becomes an easy system to use. This article will provide a simple guide on military time and how to write it.
Military time uses the 24-hour clock, where each hour of the day has a separate number. This is different to the 12-hour clock that uses the same set of numbers from 1 to 12 with the suffix AM and PM to distinguish morning and evening. The 24-hour clock uses numerals from 0 to 24.
How To Write Military Time
Military time follows a different structure to normal time or standard time (civilian time), and the 12-hour clock number system, 1 to 12 (excluding 7 and ) contains only one syllable when pronouncing it, whereas the 24 hour clock number system uses more than one syllable from 12 to 24.
Writing military time will look like the following examples, one o’clock or 1 AM in normal time is 0100 hours in military time, two o’clock or 2 AM will appear as 0200 hours. 1PM in the afternoon will be 1300 hours and 2PM will be 1400 hours.
More specific examples include the following (compared to a 12-hour clock):
Normal/Standard/Civilian time: 8:45 AM (eight forty five AM)
Military time : 0845 (zero eight forty-five hours)
Normal/Standard/Civilian time: 9:30 (nine thirty AM)
Military time : 0930 (zero nine thirty hours)
Normal/Standard/Civilian time: 8:45 PM (eight forty five PM)
Military time : 2045 (twenty hundred forty-five hours)
Normal/Standard/Civilian time: 9:30 PM (nine thirty PM)
Military time : 2130 (twenty-one hundred thirty hours)
Every number is written specifically and to detail, as seen above. The below examples indicate how each number on the military clock will appear when written and pronounced.
Midnight R 0000 R zero hundred hours
1 AM R 0100 R zero one hundred hours
2 AM R 0200 R zero two hundred hours
3 AM R 0300 R zero three hundred hours
4 AM R 0400 R zero four hundred hours
5 AM R 0500 R zero five hundred hours
6 AM R 0600 R zero six hundred hours
7 AM R 0700 R zero seven hundred hours
8 AM R 0800 R zero eight hundred hours
9 AM R 0900 R zero nine hundred hours
10 AM R 1000 R ten hundred hours
AM R 00 R eleven hundred hours
12 AM / Noon R 1200 R twelve hundred hours
1 PM R 1300 R thirteen hundred hours
2 PM R 1400 R fourteen hundred hours
3 PM R 1500 R fifteen hundred hours
4 PM R 1600 R sixteen hundred hours
5 PM R 1700 R seventeen hundred hours
6 PM R 1800 R eighteen hundred hours
7 PM R 1900 R nineteen hundred hours
8 PM R 2000 R twenty hundred hours
9 PM R 2100 R twenty-one hundred hours
10 PM R 2200 R twenty-two hundred hours
PM R 2300 R twenty-three hundred hours
12 PM / Midnight R 2400 R twenty-four hundred hours
Converting military time is an easy process and does not require a military time converter. The process follows a simple equation of subtracting 1200 from the number that needs to be converted, for example, 1300 R 1200 = 100, which will be 01:00 PM in civilian time.
Summary
Some might find the process of writing military time complicated, however, once it is understood it eliminates confusion between trying to distinguish AM and PM. It’s primarily used in law enforcement and emergency services as it offers reliability, efficiency, and consistency for official records.