Why use Military Time Instead of 8:30 AM?
Military time was created to reduce miscommunication when telling the time. It helps to clearly differentiate between 8:30 am and 8:30 pm. For example if a mission starts at 8:30 it’s not immediately clear whether that means 8:30 am or 8:30 pm.
How to Convert 8:30 AM to Military Time
1. Determine if 8:30 am is before or after midday
We can tell this by looking at whether the time is followed by am or pm. A.M. is an abbrevation of ante meridiem, which is Latin for before midday. That means 8:30 am is before midday.
2. Calculate the hours and minutes since midnight
Before we can convert to military time we need to know how much time has passed since midnight. At 8:30 am we know it is 8 hours and 30 minutes since midnight.
3. Convert hours to military time
8:30 am is before midday so we simply take our hours since midnight (8) and add a leading zero because we need two digits for military hours. That means the military time in hours is 08.
4. Combine the hours and the minutes
The military time in minutes is the number of minutes calculated in step two which is 30. Military time is given as four digits with the hours first, so the military time for 8:30 am is 0830.
What Time is 8:30 AM in Military Time?
The military time for 8:30 am is 0830. In some situations you may also need to state the military time zone. If you are stating the time in your local time zone the full military time for 8:30 am would be 0830J (J for Juliet). More commonly the time is quoted as 0830Z (Z for Zulu) which indicates 8:30 am in the UTC time zone.
How do you say 8:30 AM in Military Time?
When you are saying 8:30 am in military time you should state the digits 0830 as zero eight thirty hours. In some cases it is not necessary to finish the message with hours. If it is recommend to observe a military time zone you might say 0830Z as zero eight thirty hours Zulu time or simply zero eight thirty Zulu.