abbreviation for 'military' hours..

[Dave Wilton]

> 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".

Yes, informally just the numbers are written and the "hours" is left off.
This is the style for quick communications like email or in log entries.

In more formal contexts, the US military will usually use a "Date-Time
Group." The style is ddhhhhZMONyyyy. So the current DTG (as I write this) is
112248ZAUG2003. (The Z standing for "Zulu.") The appropriate local time zone
designator (e.g., R = Eastern Time) can be inserted in its place or, if the
location is obvious and the message not intended for worldwide distribution,
simply the word "LOCAL" (e.g., 111748LOCALAUG2003) One does not create
unofficial time-zone designators like M for Mountain as this could be
confused with another time zone elsewhere in the world (M is in Siberia).