Out of idle curiosity this morning, here’s a question for those of you who have served in the military:
How many of you are still using 24-hour and DDMMYYYY calendar format on your digital devices?
I turned in my kit 28 years ago this month and I still do it. My digital watches are all set to military time, and so are all my computers. Of course, it comes easier to someone who grew up in Europe because of the far more common use of 24-hour time over there, so everyone’s fluid in both notations. (In conversation, people in Germany tend to use 12-hour time, but all the timetables and airport status displays and such are in 24-hour time.)
When I got this Suunto Core, I was pleased to find that not only does it let you use 24-hour time (which is a common feature on digital watches) but also the DD.MM format for the date (which is far less common; watches sold in the US overwhelmingly feature the MM.DD notation.) Because even though I am fluent in imperial measurements and the AM/PM notation after 26 years here, my brain still wants to read the date the military way, day followed by month followed by year.
Oh, height – I just recently noticed in Orders of Battle flight height is reported in feet – that was a massive WTF moment for me.This should be the future, humanity is unifying and ex-US military did not switch to metric yet?
Aviation worldwide uses feet instead of meters, even in countries that otherwise use metric, so I went off that.
The 12-hour format is a throwback from the late middle ages when 24 h mechanical clocks were way too complicated and expensive to make. I personally find it very odd that the US still using it so commonly. But that Is not the only thing I find odd in American everyday habits. I think that the lack of a metric system would be much more troublesome in life. When reading American books whenever someone’s height is mentioned I have to wonder how tall he really is.
Out of the Navy for 6.5 years, and still use it. But to be fair, I did it before I was in the military. I got used to the 24-hour clock while studying in Germany, then used it for a few years before going off to OCS. Every once in a while, someone will catch me with a 17 or 18 on my watch face, and will ask about it. But more than anything, the greatest benefit is it precludes the possibility of mistakenly setting an alarm for PM when you intended AM.
hung up the uniform nearly ten years ago and i still use the 24 hour time format but due to work requirments ive been forced to go back to the mm/dd/yyy format and despise it
I have never been in military, it has been over 8 years since I have moved from Europe to Canada yet I still have issues with 12AM/PM and always use 24hour time. Though that might be because as an IT person; I use ISO 8601 date as well (YYYY-MM-DD) which is the best since alphabetical sort gives you time ordering for free 🙂
I ETS’d on 01011989 and, yes, I still use military time. Even in my (civilian) job.
Heh. I tend to use YYYYMMDD on hard drives a lot because I’m organizing subdirectories full of photographs.
I still use military time and still have the habit of using day/month/year time on my work papers. Was active duty in 2008-2011 and recently joined my local state Guard back in June.
Marko,
I am currently serving (Active Duty US Army) and don’t see myself changing from 24hour time even when I get out either.
Speaking of Time
Hypothetically, if a spaceship found itself stranded 900 light years from home and could not find the the Alcubierre chute node and could generate 2 g acceleration, the time passed aboard the ship would be 7.3 years to return home (assuming turning around en route to decelerate and enough food, water, fuel). Of course, the ship’s crew would be tiempe passate, but it beats expiring in space.
That is true, but the tech in the Frontlines universe has its limitations. They don’t have the reactor fuel to sustain 2g acceleration for several years. (They had to top off Ottawa before they made the dash across the solar system in POINTS OF IMPACT. for example.)
I’ve never been in the military; but since becoming a computer professional I have always used military time.
Worse yet, for dates I use: CCYYMMDD.
Even worse for dates and times I use: CCYYMMDDHHMMSS; so , as I write this it is:
20210310161103
Oops- that should be (mo/dd/yr)
I still use the 24 time format, as in addition to the time in service, I worked in 24 hour manufacturing facilities where the 24 hr thing made sense. I’ve reverted to the civilian date format (Dd/mo/yr).
Besides, it’s fun to tell someone you’ll meet them @ 1700 & watching them go wonky…
I’m not usually a black and white person, there’s barely anything in life with just one correct answer. But as a European and software engineer, I can tell you with conviction that there is only a single sane way to express dates and times, and that’s the ISO 8601 standard. So I’m all about 2021-03-10T18:47:03Z, that’s a definitive Yes to the 24 hour format.
I’m not going to die on the hill of which way to arrange days, months and years, but they should at least be ordered most significant to least significant or the other way around. MM/DD/YYYY is just crazy.
I’ve never served in the military – I don’t count the cadet corps at school – and am not a USAian (which should really be one of your selection criteria) but I’ll reply anyway.
I now always use DDMMYYYY and am constantly flummoxed when faced with the USA’s MMDDYYYY dates. In the last century it was DDMMYY but I switched to YYYY when I was working on the Y2K problem and 20 years later am still using the four digit year (probably because I always have Excel set up that way). When naming files on my PC I often start them with a DDDDMMYY as this is by far the most helpful for sorting.
As for the clock I’m fluent in both 12 and 24 hour versions but normally use the 12 hour am/pm convention because most of our clocks are analog, as is my watch: I did once have a digital watch but its purchase coincided with my needing glasses and analog is much more easily read when the glasses are off. Mind you I can never remember whether 12 noon is am or pm so the 24 hour clock has definite advantages once a day.
Also still use the 24hr clock & DDMMYYYY – except for internal bookkeeping in my business, because the outside CSV files I import are formatted MMDD. Spreadsheets: a blessing and a curse.
Yep, I still do. I flew recreationally for a lot of years after I got out.
For me it’s strange to see that the 24h time format is called military time – here in Hungary that’s the default. But the date format, well, it’s YYYY.MM.DD., so working in IT support i usually use the DD.MM.YYYY format IRL/outside work too.
You may want to send me your updated address. Your giveaway book got returned to me from Hungary last week as undeliverable.
Similar situation for me. Between military service and civilian flying, 24-hour clock got pretty well baked in. The exception is my analog watch. Yeah, I’m still an old fogy in some ways.
I’m still using military time after 7 years out, but I work in the aviation sector so it’s pretty common here (until the clocks change and I’m an hour out!) I’m also loving my Suunto Core that my then GF now wife got me 8 or 9 years ago, you can also set that to dual times!