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CPA0908

good thing they aren’t in the military


XxTreeFiddyxX

Pretty sure if he went to bootcamp he would painfully learn it if necessary


MrScrummers

I can attest that it is necessary to learn military time in the military. And I haven’t gone back to regular time since and that was 18 year ago. It’s jarring at first but once you get use to it it becomes second nature. And honestly everyone should know how to read military time. It’s less confusing for recording times on records, some professions use it (nurses use it, my current job uses it) for record keeping.


twoscoop

Nothing like writing 0000 for midnight


MrScrummers

Very satisfying to write that, and easy.


NoDudeImScared

In the navy, it's read (unofficially) as "balls" or "balls o'clock". 0030 would be "balls-thirty"


milvet02

Y’all don’t call it four balls? Navy is strange.


NoDudeImScared

Correct. And also correct.


schwarzeKatzen

I cannot wait until the next time I need to tell my former Navy sibling something was at 0030.


gleeble

And you WILL write it, because you were assigned mid watch. Again.


TheBoctor

Well, I need *something* to break up the monotony of chipping paint and scrubbing shitters!


Qwikslyver

No joke - I was reading the sops for staff duty at my last duty station and they had a battalion wide policy that on Saturday nights guests visiting the barracks had to leave by 2400. Not by 000, but by 2400. I’m pretty sure there is a nice malicious compliance story waiting to happen over there now.


onlysane1

From what I've seen, 2400 and 0000 can be used interchangeably, with preferences differing between nations and even services within the same nation. I was in the Marines and I was taught 2400 (with one minute after midnight being 0001).


Rentlar

[saying 12:00 AM vs. 0000 hours](https://media.tenor.com/4cGQ6HhuXL8AAAAd/average-chad.gif)


Ok-Yoghurt-9976

A guy at my work wrote 2400 for midnight on our charts. We all found it funny enough to not correct him


troybananenboyYT

thank god im normal and from europe 🙏🙏🙏🙏


oodelay

To me, not knowing 24h time is weird. I can just imagine the American stuck at the Germany airport screaming in confusion wondering why he's not allowed to shoot the clock that is telling him the devil time instead of the Jesus 12 hour like intended by our forefathers.


AlwaysHigh27

It's... Not even difficult. Look at the first number 18 and -12. 6. 20-12 8. 24-12 12. My brain doesn't -12 it just looks at the number and -2 lol and does the remaining. It's.... Exceptionally easy.


gahw61

But I don't have 14 fingers! I'd have to take my socks off to tell the time!


Got2Bfree

Here in Germany, were we use the 24 hour system, verbally we sometimes use the 12 hour system. I mean it's not that that hard PM times in 24 hour are just AM times + 12...


Yoru_Vakoto

i preffer military time cause i can never remeber if 12AM is midnight or noon


HDCornerCarver

Now that I'm in college, I'm constantly "corrected" by professors for using the date format I grew accustomed to in the service, for example 16MAR2023. So far, I've just taken the point loss as it never occurs to me to change it. English professor seemed to think I was dense listing March as MAR.


PausedForVolatility

That’s kind of interesting given how many arcane, inconsistently defined abbreviations wind up floating around in academia. The university, college, department/program, days of the week the class is held on, and building all have abbreviations. The chair probably has a specific endowment and the chair of the department is often referred to by an abbreviation of a specific donor’s name (mostly where a small group of families did most of the big donations). The registrar probably has distinct academic codes for undergrad vs grad classes. English itself is rife with abbreviations for everything from grammatical terms (DC vs IC). The instructor themself has an at least two abbreviations in their email. And as often as not, they’re going to be called something like PI or PR instead of “instructor,” especially for more research heavy fields. Citations are governed by a standard of a specific type preferred by the school, which is probably a three letter abbreviation. Efforts to increase inclusion means a greater emphasis on ADA compliance and most colleges have several policies on, among other things, LGBT students. And even the course name itself will have a wide variety of abbreviations — EN, ENG, and ENGL are all reasonably common depending on how many academic codes the registrar wants. And that’s not even getting into how common vernacular abbreviations for programs are probably nothing like the academic code. It doesn’t matter if your Criminal Justice course codes are all JUS. I give it better than even odds everyone calls it CJ. tldr: your professor was an ass. They could have figured out why you used MAR and reasonably deduced that three letters is the ideal minimum for truncated month names (what are you going to do, date your paper 3-J-23?). They just didn’t care.


FitLaw4

I don't understand that I was in the Marines but I still use 12 hour time lol


Radstrodamus

I work for the medical examiners office and we use it. My wife gets mad when I use it at home lol


MrScrummers

My wife’s a nurse so we just have all the clocks set to 24 hours. Might confuse the kids when they start learning time but they will Have to learn eventually in our house haha.


Radstrodamus

Same here. All the clocks on the tvs and everything are the same lol


97Graham

The first time I had to vocalize 1000 was awkward saying '10 hundred' just sounds so wrong, but once you are over the hump it's like anything else.


Campeador

You do learn it in bootcamp. But the best part is it' s the easiest thing you will learn there because it takes all of 10 seconds to learn it.


Papichuloft

As well as the phonetic alphabet, marching, cadences, waking up at 0430, and taking cold ass showers after PT.


Falkrim

Glad I live in the UK where 24 hour clock is the norm


doobiehowserMN

And I’m glad I know how to subtract 12.


Aleskey_Mijaylob

Or count past 12


happycrabeatsthefish

I'm a body builder. I don't count past 10 reps. If I'm doing more than 10, weights too small.


CrispyJelly

I'm a power lifter. Everything above 5 reps is cardio.


happycrabeatsthefish

I count to 10 because I'm kinda a math wiz at my gym


DontWannaSayMyName

I'm a couch potato. Anything above 1 is too much effort


Scotthe_ribs

Right, like this isn’t quantum physics.


Zodep

But then it would be -5 o’clock? /s


MonkeyPawClause

“20 o clock what is this shit?!”


Falkrim

It’s currently 15:10 Also reminds me of brewstew’s “13 O’Clock” news videos


-Mr_Unknown-

Glad I don’t live in the US where illiteracy is the norm.


Falkrim

I quite like the US ngl


-Mr_Unknown-

I envy you, honestly.


headingthatwayyy

Same...and I have lived in the US my whole life


Falkrim

Well it sure beats living in the UK. I’ve always been envious of the states lol.


[deleted]

[удалено]


softfart

You can just say anything about the US and people won’t question it


Heathen_Mushroom

I have a couple of nephews back in Norway who confront me regularly with things they think they know about America which they learned on reddit. It is hilarious what they think my life in America must be like.


softfart

Did you know that in America they don’t have heads and they eat through a mouth in their stomach


Heathen_Mushroom

Did you know that in America, children as young as 5 are forced to sew American flags by hand after school and are paid in bullets?


imabigdave

What caliber? That could be a good deal.


TheCommander74

That's only in Mississippi.


wtgm

Since when does Mississippi have schools?


No-Technology217

I won't agree that it is the norm, but I would agree that it is way more prevalent than it should be here...


nerlinhammy

I hope you’re just making a joke and you don’t seriously believe that.


EvilLucas

Same here in Brazil


Det-Frank-Drebin

...Sometimes....I was in Asda a few months back, two women were looking at alarm clocks.... "Why do you need another?" one asks "Oh its that stupid 24 hour display, i don't understand it..." 99% sure she'd be able to switch between them too if she'd read the instructions...


Falkrim

How can they not understand it though lol, as far as I can remember it’s always been listed as such, on the news etc.


MAR82

She might’ve meant that it confuses her for a second, so it takes her longer to read it. I learned to tell time on analog clocks, and used 12 hour digital clocks a lot. So now when looking at a 24 hour time display, I’ll convert in my head to 12 hour time (takes less than a second) even if most of mine are set to 24h


Falkrim

Oh valid point.


Unkalaki_Feruchemist

Speaking as an American I genuinely don’t understand why we can’t follow what the rest of the world uses. Metric is way easier to understand than imperial and the 24 hour clock is way superior


internet_commie

I have had a lot of Americans tell me metric is SUPER difficult and imperial is much easier. I don't argue, but I always ask them to tell me how many ounces to a gallon. So far the only persons who have answered correctly are my college physics professor (originally from China) and my husband, a high school science teacher. I once asked my 5 year old nephew in Norway how many milliliters to a liter, and he immediately answered correctly.


Awful-Cleric

Why would I need to know how many ounces are in gallon? I know how many ounces are in a cup, and I know how many cups are in a pint, and I know how many pints are in a... yeah imperial volume measurements suck, even as someone who has used them my whole life.


delurkrelurker

Pity sundials don't work at night.


ProclusGlobal

Honest question, when you are verbally talking to friends to make dinner plans, do you say "dinner at 20 o'clock" or "dinner at 8 o'clock"? I assume if you were texting you would type 20:00, but how do you *say* it?


Falkrim

Personally I’d say 8PM, because we subconsciously know that 8PM is 20:00. You could write it as 20:00 if you really wanted to and to about confusion. So lets say its the news at 6, the handles will still say it like 6PM even though the clock will display 18:00.


ProclusGlobal

Ok, so if I'm interpreting correctly, in verbal conversation a 'base 12' model is used, but in documentation (text msg, newspaper, TV, etc) a 'base 24' model is used? In essence, you use both? Like in normal conversation would you ever say "sixteen thirty"? Or would a news reporter ever say "sixteen thirty"? I think this is where "military time" becomes a distinction because a commanding officer *will* say "drills will begin today at 'sixteen thirty' ".


Batterie_Faible_

So apparently, to Americans, everyone except them is in the military. Got it.


GermanPizza56

Americans call the 24 hour standard, military time due to the fact our arm forces are forced to learn the 24 standard. Because just about everyone knows the Americans use a 12 hour time base everywhere else in the country. Every country that’s not America, they use a 24 hour standard clock. It’s not considered military time for anyone else.


Tyrrox

Hyperbole. Plenty of other countries use a 12 hour clock as the default in common parlance. It’s like metric, there are “metric” countries that use imperial units in day to day speech.


Aleskey_Mijaylob

Here in Colombia we use 12 hour clock but people simply learn the 24 hour one


ThinkPath1999

But, can it really be considered "learning"? Everyone is used to 12 hours anyway, and you only need to be able to add up to 12 onto 12. I don't know if I ever learned it per say, it was more just common sense.


elimial

Common sense is learned, else everyone would actually have it


ShoeboxKiller

Common sense is a flower that doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.


elimial

Oo I like this one


ordoviteorange

Adding twelve isn’t that difficult.


Clashyjammer1126

Same in the US. I’m American and use 24 hour time on my phone and clocks.


greg19735

Yeah this whole arguement is nonsense. Times are displayed as 24 hour clocks more often in many countries. But it's way more common to say you're getting dinner at 7, not 19.


toth42

We speak in 12h time(here in Norway) but anything written is 24h. 2:00 is only 2 in the morning, the afternoon is 14. I don't think many languages speak the 24h time like us military does.


Costalorien

> I don't think many languages speak the 24h time We do in France. Both are used, but mainly the 24h one.


farawaydread

Canada is a great example of this. We use the 12 hour clock, but (most?) can read the 24 hour clock as well, as it's used for road signs. We also use metric, except in everyday life most of us use imperial for height and weight.


sunshades91

The military actually uses a lot of metric too and normal date formats like d-m-y instead of the stupid m-d-y. I was surprised by when I got out that nobody knew what a milliliter was or had no frame of reference at all. I asked a friend to get me a 200 ML bottle of whisky from the store and he looked at me crazy and asked if that was like a gallon.


Snipen543

The only normal date format is yyyy-mm-dd


REDDITM0DS_IN_MY_ASS

/r/ISO8601


Sexual_Congressman

d-m-y is terrible and I certainly hope not normal. ISO 8601 yyyy-mm-dd is the only way.


QuickSpore

> Every country that’s not America, they use a 24 hour standard clock. It’s not considered military time for anyone else. Some 50 odd countries use a 12 hour clock. Another 20 or so use both interchangeably. [As shown here](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_24_Hours_World_Map.svg). It’s not really a US only thing.


Crashbrennan

Shhhhhh, don't disrupt the circlejerk


GrunthosArmpit42

While I don’t disagree, but to nitpick a bit here about the “everywhere else in the country” thing. There are many non-military professionals (and people in general) in the US that use 24-hour standard time on the regular. Pilots (and other sky nerds like meteorologists and astrologists), paramedics, almost all hospital staff, transit workers, research scientists, logisticians, and so on… just to name a few. It’s like the “hurr durr ***all*** [US] Americans don’t use metric” generalization situation. Which is also untrue. Not suggesting that you were saying that, but it’s just a similar kind of zombie cliché statement that refuses to die. lol


padishaihulud

Japan seems to use 12 hour: 午前一時: 1 AM 午後一時: 1 PM


FredR23

sort of how we're all forced to learn that some doors are "push" and some are "pull", it's a grueling 4 seconds, but we all suffer through it.


ExhaustedTilBedtime

Yea according to a random comment on Facebook.


Dominant-Species-Mid

99% chance this was written by a foreigner trying to make fun of America.


NeedyTaker

It’s normal for it to be called military time for us Americans


SirMCThompson

The US military has a socialized healthcare and free college so....


milvet02

Fairly socialized workforce with only marginal difference in pay for people of the same rank and time in uniform. And a pension. And early retirement. And PTO. And sick leave. It’s hilarious how much people pretend to hate those policies, but then pretend to love the military.


ACoolBruhMomento

we have reinvented SUNDIALS.


NavyDragons

yes but also they have been upgraded this time to provide a display in their shadow instead of an interpretation of their shadow. i'll call that a win because its cool low tech big brain to figure that out


TFS_Sierra

Time is a fuckin flat circle


MyUsernameThisTime

Accelerating upwards at 9.8m/s^2 ....


itsm1kan

If it's a simple sundial I challenge you to 3d model a working version of this.


swiftgeek

[Thingiverse page with STL models and OpenSCAD file](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443) [Video about the design](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrsje5It_UU) [Article](http://www.mojoptix.com/2015/10/25/mojoptix-001-digital-sundial/)


immaownyou

Actually this is a digital sundial, ancient sundials were analog so this is a much needed improvement


Chaostrap444

"military" time is just superior, you just say the time and you instantly know when it is


indigoHatter

Perfect for ISO time-stamping too, since it allows chronological sorting of files by A-to-Z, assuming you also wrote the year as YYYY-MM-DD (2023-03-16-04-51.redditcomment)


JasonCox

/r/ISO8601MR


captain_ender

Yep we use ISO-8601 in post production for film/tv because we have 100TBs+ per show of files that have to be organized and copied between whole teams of people. Makes sorting much more efficient.


hothrous

Verbally speaking, 12 doesn't have the problem you're implying for anybody who isn't a (and I mean this in the nicest way possible) fucking moron. Based on the context clues people have around when discussing time, the AM and PM are generally left off in everyday discussion. That said 24hr is superior for other reasons now that digital is the standard but with analog clocks 24hr causes too much clutter on the face.


CiriousVi

> Verbally speaking, 12 doesn't have the problem you're implying for anybody who isn't a (and I mean this in the nicest way possible) fucking moron. Exactly. I have never once been confused by the 12hr clock. Why tf do people act like you can't tell if it's 1am or 1pm with it? Is the fucking sun out? No? Then maybe it's *god damn NIGHT*


Valantic

Time is used for more than just telling the current time. For example, a doctor might tell you to take a certain medication at 7. 7 AM or 7 PM? Communicating in 24 hour time removes any potential confusion, which depending on the situation can be rather important.


CiriousVi

> For example, a doctor might tell you to take a certain medication at 7. 7 AM or 7 PM? The 7 that fits your schedule, unless it very specifically needs to be morning or night. And then they'll just tell you, take it in the morning, or take it at night before bed. It really, really, is not difficult to communicate.


MindErection

The point isnt that its "difficult to communicate", its about being precise with no ambiguity.


Extension_Swordfish1

Well at least.. Metric system confusion is pretty much gone in the field of science.


TheHalloumiCheese

To be fair it does require them to be able to count above 12


No-Technology217

But, but... I only have 10 fingers... /s (I'm an American)


Gradually_Adjusting

Am American, have toes. I'm basically unstoppable.


YippeeCreature666

That's still only 20 out of the 24 digits you need. (british people have extras)


gadget850

Everyone else in the world just calls it *time*.


Technical-Jicama6120

Am American, and non-military (ha-ha). I have to think way too hard to handle anything above the 12-hour system. A little ashamed, mostly just used to it.


Braygraywolf

Im an american and I use military its honestly quite easy to read, though i always get shit for it.


LordOfDarkHearts

How un-American from you to know how to read the clock xD But seriously, why do you get shit for that?


Da-Stan

I use it also


cidiusgix

Fools who can’t understand.


Hero667

For daring to be different


kanticat

Because even if you personally choose to adopt something outside of the norm where you are living, that doesn't change the norm where you are living? Its pretty understandable, you'll get shit for saying it because everyone else around you isn't going to be used to hearing it.


LordOfDarkHearts

Ok, I really didn't thought it would be that out of the norm. I use both depending on what context and to whom I'm talking to.


_The_Great_Autismo_

I'm also American and I've used 24 hour time my entire life. I immediately saw that it was superior to 12 hour time when I was a kid and thus never used 12 hour time.


sysy__12

Im American and I use military time, the metric system, and Celsius every day. Its just a lot easier to understand for me took some time to get used to Celsius but besides that everything was alot easier


Smooth-Midnight

Bro they have such a large military


eastcoastwaistcoat

It's honestly insane. I occasionally work on a base. The number of wicked things they have on hand is massive. And they rotate it all the time with drills so its always ready to go. Never wanted to join, though. You literally sign your life away and become property. I also don't want to hurt people for a living.


Following_Friendly

US has 4 of the 5 largest air forces last I heard


CanuckBuddy

I don't understand how so many people think they can't read 24-hour/military time. If it's the morning, it's the regular time. If it's the afternoon/evening, add 12 to the 12-hour time.


CybertronGuy98

ive never understood why so many people have such strong opinions over this. who gives a shit whether you use a 12 or 24 hour clock?


KnightGalavant

Because mericah bad gib updoots


Rampagingflames

Easy way to remember military time. Firstly, anything past 12:00 is in the PM. Let's say it's 15:34, remove the one, and minus the five by two and you get, 3:34 pm.


0w0whatisthis

Or..or....hear me out here..you apply some logic. A day has 24 hours in it so it's not rocket science to figure out 13 is 1 o'clock and so on.


indigoHatter

Noooo that's too haarrrrddddd 😭😭😭 you people just choose to do things the hard way, I am perfect


N781VP

To those who ventured this far into the comments. Don’t continue. It’s not worth it.


givemeadamnname69

Logic? Critical thinking? Those are commie words! /s


mavmav0

An easier way: if over 12, do minus 12


BionicHawki

Yeah what the fuck lol. I have never even considered doing it any other way than the -12.


TheDankSkittles

this man is a genius


mavmav0

I thank thee, I pride myself on my wisdoms in the school of mathematics.


TheScarletCravat

Honestly, that's not the easy way. The easy way is to just continuously use it until it's second nature. The moment that you bring maths into the equation you've messed up. You should just be able to look at 17:00 and your brain says '5 o'clock', without really noticing that it says seventeen hundred, if you get me.


Extension_Swordfish1

He cracked the code. Here is award for you 🏆


baalroo

I mean, it's pretty weird that the person you responded to *described how to subtract 12 from something*, but it's even weirder to me that you responded to that by saying to just subtract 12.


mavmav0

The result is the same, but the method differs.


Westcoast_IPA

23:24 -> 3:24 -2 = 1:24pm….? Just subtract by 12


auchnureinmensch

lol


SquireZephyr

Legit. All these people trying to minus 12. Just look at second digit of hours. Take two from that.


Kinc4id

So 21:15 is -1:15pm? Why would you try to find a workaround for doing -12? That’s elementary school level math. If you can’t subtract 12 from numbers up to 23 you have other problems than reading the clock. If you are used to 24hr format you don’t subtract anything anyway. You just know that 15:00 is 3pm like you now that q comes after p.


_WhoElse

Easier way is to just subtract 12.


Thorpey991

I mean, call me simple but the way I always figured it out, if you just ignore the first digit and minus two from the second, you have the time in 12 hour format


Dikheed

Leave him alone. ​ It's pretty cool that he's the only American that isn't currently in the military.


bertbert1111

Military time? Basic 24hour-time is military time?!


TheRedSpade

That's how it's commonly referred to in the US. Most people here use 12 hour exclusively. I personally use 24 hour but refuse to call it military time because the way the military verbalizes it is dumb as hell.


Steezle

There is a difference between military time and 24 hr time. There are no colons in military time and there are leading 0’s. For example: military is 0730 not 7:30 and 1730 not 17:30.


-kalaxiancrystals-

Well thats embarrassing


ClosestTonyDanza

Kills me to no end to hear people confused by this. Just fuckin SUBTRACT 12 Christ it's not hard


Sabot_Snail_

Then daylight savings happens and it's all messed up.


Kcomix

Maybe you can give it a slight turn to adjust the time


[deleted]

At my workplace military time is standard and its not hard to read.


jaysjaysbook35

This guy might be American, but dumb is another thing!!!


Flaechezinker

No way some americans dont know what time 14:20 is


TheRedSpade

You overestimate the intelligence of some americans.


nerlinhammy

You overestimate the intelligence of some people* There, I fixed it for you.


nowadventuring

Nobody is being helpful here, so I'm gonna actually explain why so many Americans don't get it. It's the way the American military *says it*. Like, 08:00 is oh eight hundred. It *sounds* like nonsense to a child trying to learn it.


maidtop

fix: "I'm from the US. can't read military time" most of america can read military time


ShiftyShankerton

It’s not hard you uncultured swine


JstLkz

Why people call it miliitary time? It's literally just fucking called 24 hour format.


Hentona

Went to dmv in America for the first time. Worker asked me when I made the appointment and I told her 1500. She looked at me and said “do I look like I’m in the military?!.” Yeaaa some Americans are dumb lol


eightyhate

So glad I’m not American I wouldn’t be able the get anything done in just 12 hours


Mr-MuffinMan

It’s that time -12


Super_Ninja39

How can bro not know 14:20 is 2:20


Emotional_Parsnip_69

Omfg everyone else uses 24 hour time 🤣🤣🤣 we’re dummies


Bazzie-T-H

Yes, godforbid you had the biggest military in the world huh?


strange_interests

Awesome that this solar clock is in 24 hour time.


ForgotToDieYoung

Ah, willful ignorance. The hallmark of American society. I bet I know how this one votes...


NJBauer

I remember being 10 and seeing ‘military time’ for the first time. Was able to figure out what it meant, because, you know, common sense.


f_ranz1224

Most of the world uses 24 hour clocks. I assumed being confused by it was a joke


[deleted]

Americans be like 'I can't coubt past 12 actually'.


anonymous_4_custody

I use military time on every device in my life, I'm thought most Americans did. I thin this is a person, not americans in general. To be fair, there's a militant aspect in the US to saying "Well, it's twenty two hundred, time for bed", so normal folks say "it's ten PM, time for bed". I don't want to accidentally steal some valor or something.


Brewtt

I hate my countries education system and some Americans pride in being stupid dolts.


Da-Stan

Im American military time is easy 💀


doc_nano

I'm American, and have known how to subtract 12 since first grade.


No_Appointment5039

It’s really annoying how he blames his ignorance on being American…


CypticSanity

I'm American and all my kids know military time. I ha e all clocks set this way since they were born. I'm retired military so I instill core values. Military time is a core value... I may trick them up and go to Zulu time.


MohammadRezaPahlavi

Amazing how people wear ignorance as a badge of honor.


Strato-Cruiser

I wish people would quit calling it military time.


Ugly_girls_PMme_nudz

I dont understand who these Americans who dont understand Military time are? Are they all zoomers? Military time isnt very common in the US but most people can still do basic math.


Mikekimen

good thing they aren’t in the military..


Zero384

"Try speaking **American,** it's the only language I understand!"


PavlovsHumans

In America, it’s military time _all_ the time


PYCapache

What is military time, and how it is different from civilian time?


RedditIsFacist1289

14 - 12 is to hard


intjf

I'm an Americian citizen and able to read military time. Well, I actually use military time at work and personally.


T3-Trinity

"I'm ̶A̶m̶e̶r̶i̶c̶a̶n̶ a moron"