Understanding 24-hour Clock System

Hey, I've been looking into different career paths and the military definitely caught my attention. However, I'm a bit confused about the whole concept of military time. I mean, I hear them talk about 0600 hours, 1800 hours - but how does it really work? Can someone clarify this for me?

Sure, happy to explain! When folks in the U.S. military talk about time, they typically use what's known as the 24-hour clock system, also referred to as "military time." This differs from the 12-hour clock system most of us are used to, where times are designated as AM (ante meridiem, before midday) or PM (post meridiem, after midday).

Here is how it works: Time is divided into a 24-hour period starting from midnight (0000 hours) to the next midnight. The hours from 1am to noon are the same as in a 12-hour clock, but without the AM marker, so 1:00am is 0100 hours and 12:00pm is 1200 hours. Hours from 1pm to midnight are represented by adding 12 to the standard time, so 1:00pm becomes 1300 hours, 2:00pm is 1400 hours, and so on, all the way up to 11:00pm, which is 2300 hours.

So, when someone in the military says it's 0600 hours, they mean it's 6:00am in civilian time, and when they say it's 1800 hours, it's 6:00pm. This system helps to avoid confusion between AM and PM times, which can be critically important in military operations. Hope that clears things up for you!