Military time is 12-hour time with the ambiguity surgically removed. Every instant of the day gets exactly one four-digit name — no AM/PM to mix up — which is why hospitals, aviation, and armed forces run on it.
The conversion rule
Afternoon and evening hours (13–23) shed 12 to become PM times: 1730 = 5:30 PM, 2115 = 9:15 PM. Morning hours pass through as AM: 0930 = 9:30 AM. The two tricky spots are the endpoints — 0000 is midnight (12:00 AM) and 1200 is noon (12:00 PM). The full 24-row chart in the expander covers every hour with its spoken form.
Speaking it correctly
Read digit pairs: 0800 is "zero eight hundred," 1345 is "thirteen forty-five," 2000 is "twenty hundred," typically with "hours" appended. On-the-hour times use "hundred" — never "o'clock." The converter shows the spoken form live for whatever time you enter.
The midnight question
Both 0000 and 2400 are legitimate: 0000 begins a day, 2400 ends the previous one — the same physical moment written from two directions. Schedules use 2400 for closing times ("open until 2400"); digital systems, and this converter, standardize on 0000.
Beyond conversion
Adding and subtracting times across the day boundary is its own headache — the time duration calculator handles elapsed time, and the work hours calculator totals timesheets in decimal hours. Coordinating across cities? That's a timezone problem, not a format one.
Reference chart follows US military convention; civilian 24-hour notation adds a colon.