Military time uses a 24-hour clock instead of the familiar 12 hour AM/PM civilian clock.
Military time is similar to civilian time during the morning hours (Midnight to Noon). After Noon, military time continues to increment the hour digit, whereas civilian time starts over.
To convert military time after Noon to civilian time, subtract 12. For example, 1800 hours becomes 6:00pm.
To convert civilian time after Noon to military time, add 12. For example, 5:00pm becomes 1700 hours.
Military time is also pronounced differently than civilian time. 9:00am in civilian time is 0900 in military time, and it is pronounced oh-nine-hundred. A military person would refer to 7:00pm civilian time as nineteen hundred hours in military time.
Military Time Chart
This chart can help you to convert between civilian time and military time:
Civilian Time Military Time 1:00am 0100 2:00am 0200 3:00am 0300 4:00am 0400 5:00am 0500 6:00am 0600 7:00am 0700 8:00am 0800 9:00am 0900 10:00am 1000 11:00am 1100 Noon 1200 1:00pm 1300 2:00pm 1400 3:00pm 1500 4:00pm 1600 5:00pm 1700 6:00pm 1800 7:00pm 1900 8:00pm 2000 9:00pm 2100 10:00pm 2200 11:00pm 2300 Midnight 2400
Military Time Zones
The military also utilizes the military alphabet to designate military time zones.
When a military person says “Zulu Time”, they are referring to the time in Greenwich England, or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
If you are in Denver and you have a a meeting at “seventeen hundred hours zulu time”, you had better be at your meeting at “ten hundred hours” local time!
| Letter | Phonetic | City | GMT Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alpha | Paris | GMT +1 |
| B | Bravo | Athens | GMT +2 |
| C | Charlie | Moscow | GMT +3 |
| D | Delta | Kabul | GMT +4 |
| E | Echo | New Delhi | GMT +5 |
| F | Foxtrot | Rangoon | GMT +6 |
| G | Golf | Bangkok | GMT +7 |
| H | Hotel | Beijing | GMT +8 |
| I | India | Tokyo | GMT +9 |
| K | Kilo | Brisbane | GMT +10 |
| L | Lima | Sydney | GMT +11 |
| M | Mike | Kamchatka | GMT +12 |
| N | November | Azores | GMT -1 |
| O | Oscar | Rio De Janiero | GMT -2 |
| P | Papa | Buenos Aires | GMT -3 |
| Q | Quebec | Halifax | GMT -4 |
| R | Rome | New York | GMT -5 |
| S | Sierra | Chicago | GMT -6 |
| T | Tango | Denver | GMT -7 |
| U | Uniform | San Francisco | GMT -8 |
| V | Victor | Anchorage | GMT -9 |
| W | Whiskey | Hawaii | GMT -10 |
| X | Xray | Wellington | GMT -11 |
| Y | Yankee | Fiji | GMT -12 |
| Z | Zulu | Greenwich | GMT |