Why can't people in the military use regular time??

Answer 1

Using a 24 hour clock minimizes confusion. It's hardly unique to the armed forces; the scientific community uses it, as do computer programmers.

Answer 2

The military is a 24 hour entity. If I say "We are going to invade at 3:00." That could be pretty confusing. So saying 03:00 or 15:00 is far more precise.

Answer 3

We use a 24 hour clock to eliminate confusion and save "time" when writing and reading (Log-books, messages, etc), AND when calculating time expended... ie: flight time - If we took off on patrol at 1135 and landed at 1545, our total flight time was 4 hours, 10 minutes.

We also tend to WORK on "local" time, but conduct communications on ZULU (Greenwich Mean Time, or now, Universal Time/ Coordinated Universal Time). That way if something occurs in San Diego, CA (Uniform) and we send out a message regarding the incident... every receipent knows WHEN it occurred relative to THEM.

JUST FYI, most large companies work this way... telephone telecommunications & power companies, large retailers, etc. That way when Headquarters in San Francisco issues a memo... everyone can quickly calculate the time relative to THEM.

I did 15 yrs in the Navy, and it's simply INGRAINED into me... I can still do the calculations from my time zone to another by the aphabetic designation... I've been out for almost 8 years now.

Answer 4

We use military time because time has shown it is better to use.

Think about it...

"Sergeant, bring your troops out at 3 O'Clock exactly"

vs

"Sergeant, bring your troops out at 0300 exactly" or "Sergeant, bring your troops out at 1500 exactly"

Imagine if the Sergeant brought out his troops at the wrong time... 12 hours off when he was supposed to. If he was, say, reinforcements... either the troops in need would miss their reenforcements and likely die or get captured, or THEY will become the rescue team to the Sergeant's troops.

Having the military time reduces confusion, has, and will continue to save lives. Do you really need any more reason than that? I could go on and kill a dead horse, but that should be beyond reason enough.

Answer 5

Not only does using a 24 hour clock reduce confusion on times, but it is also because pretty much every other country in world uses a 24 hour clock too.

Answer 6

The military uses its own set of jargon. Military time (1300, 1400, etc) is used so as not to confuse those times with 1AM or 2AM, etc.
You would have to expose yourself to military life to completely understand. Are you contemplating joining?

Answer 7

"military time" is regular or a universal time for around the world. only in the US is it considered "military time." and seeing how military ppl are stationed all over the world, it just makes more sense to use the 24hr time instead of the 12hr

Answer 8

What are you trying to ask???

Are you asking why military people don't get overtime?
Are you asking if military people who are on duty 24/7/365 should get overtime?
Are in the mindset of Hillary Clinton who thinks that unless we are at war military people are sitting around doing nothing?
From her remarks in NYC at the death of a sailor on Flight 800. She thought about his 18 months of service (the amount of time his ship was deployed). He had 11 years of service but that doesn't count according to the Senator.

Okay a new thought after I read some others; The military has operations ongoing around the world and has for many years. It would be confusing enough to allow for time zones if there was a probability of being 12 hours off.

Answer 9

24-hour time prevents confusion between "1 O'Clock..am" and "1 O'Clock ...pm."

0100 (for 1 am) and 1300 (for 1 pm) save time and prevent confusion and may even save lives!

BTW, we usually use "regular time" for personal matters, by often slip into 24-hr time out of habit!

BTW, in most countries transportation timetables (for trains, buses, airliners, etc...) are done in 24-hr time...again to prevent confusion between a.m. and p.m.

Answer 10

Because it removes all questions as to whether it is AM or PM. I used Zulu. I was part of a world wide network and we all had to work off the same time.