My posts are getting a bit too long, but luckily this one’s short and sweet. I’m going to break down the date format you’ll be expected to use while in the military. In case you’ve been confused, that’s why my blog posts feature the day before the month. Unfortunately, there are some variations on how to display date, particularly if you’re communicating with someone in a position that deals with multiple time zones. I’m going to stick with the basics though, and you can adapt later once you’re in a specific position if needed. A good tip is that if someone higher up has started communication with you and uses a specific date/time format, try to respond with the same level of detail. The most basic rules are that unlike the average American date format of MONTH-DAY-YEAR, the military tends to stick with DAY-MONTH-YEAR. That part will likely be the most difficult thing to switch in your brain, but luckily the rest is pretty simple. In most cases, you’ll be writing out dates as DD MMM YY, although some might use the full year (YYYY) instead. D refers to Day, M refers to Month, and Y refers to Year. For the Day, remember that there are two digits in DD. This means you should include a “0” if the day is only one digit. So the 16th is “16”, and the 9th is “09”. For the Month, the MMM stand for the first three LETTERS of the month, not numbers. January would be JAN, and July would be JUL. Although some people might not capitalize all three letters, it’s usually safer if you do. Lastly, the Year is usually YY, representing the last two digits of the year. So the year 2021 would simply be “21”. If your team or superiors are using the full YYYY format, then you can easily adapt. Putting all of this together, you get DD MMM YY. For example, 7/4/2012 would be written as 04 JUL 12, and 2/11/2020 would be 11 FEB 20. If you’re currently in the DEP, I highly recommend you write your date in this format on any paperwork/homework they give you so you can get accustomed. Since most civilian matters don’t use this format though, the main way most of you will be practicing is through verbal practice. Try to get used to saying dates with the day before the month, like you would for a wedding invite or for a holiday like “the Fourth of July”. Keep practicing, and I hope you enjoy your 15th of February.
Comments are closed.
|
Just Call Me Kilo
Although I'm a navy brat from a military family, I'm quite anxious and reserved. Therefore I'm not one to show my face and be overly social, but I like to help where I can! Ask me a question nicely if there's a topic you need help learning about and I'll see if I can address it. Archives
April 2021
Categories
All
|