abbreviation for 'military' hours..

[James A. Landau]

I was asked the following question off-list:

> I'm trying to find a rule for abbreviating 'hours'. .
>
> If I were to write that something was to take place at 1400 hours, and
> wanted to abbreviate for use in a table, what is the preferred
> abbreviation for hours?  I've seen:  hrs.; hr.; and h.  And, I've seen
> the variations both with and without a period following the
> abbreviation.

It seems to me that there is no sich animal.

Verbally someone in the US Armed Forces would say /fourteen hundred hours/
for two PM.  In writing the person would write "1400" and leave it at that.  I
don't recall seeing the word "hours" either written out or abbreviated when
someone was specifying time in writing in the so-called "military style".

>From the glossary of the "AIM" (Charles F. Spence, ed.  _Aeronautical
Information Manual_  New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003, ISBN 0-07-139504-0):

<quote>
Time Group.  Four digits representing the hour and minutes from the
Coordinated Univeral Time (UTC) clock.  FAA uses UTC for all operations.  The term
"ZULU" may be used to denote UTC.  The word "local" or the time zone equivalent
shall be used to denote local when local time is given during radio and
telephone communications.  When written, a time zone designator is used to indicate
local time; e.g. "0205M" (Mountain).  The local time may be based on the 24-hour
clock system.  The day begins at 0000 and ends at 2359.
</quote>

            James A. Landau
            systems engineer
            FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
            Atlantic City Int'l Airport   NJ   08405   USA