What does zero dark thirty mean?

Question

What does zero dark thirty mean?

Answer 1

"Oh - dark thirty" means sometiem in the middle of the night like way way ffreakin early (2, 3, 4am)

Answer 2

"Dark Thirty" means anytime very early in the morning. Generally "Zero Dark Thirty" is used as a slang term by anyone that has a very early morning duty between the hours of 00:00 and 04:00 (Midnight to 4 am). Example: Soldier: "I can't believe I got put on KP. Have to report at Zero Dark Thirty." Battle Buddy: "Sucks to be you."

Answer 3

So since most answers are wrong and the ones that are right got down voted I will clarify. Zero dark 30 is short for zero dark 0030 which is 30 minutes after midnight. Dark just means after midnight it is on a 1200 as opposed to 2400 system. Zero dark 100 would be 1:00am. Zero dark 1000 would be 10:00am as it is 10 hours after midnight. Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Zero means the time when the 24-hour clock (also known in the US as 'military time'( begins, namely midnight. They add 'dark' to make it extra clear that they mean midnight and not midday; then they add '30' as the number of minutes after zero. So it's half an hour past midnight. In standard 24-hour clock presentation this would be 00:30.

Answer 5

Butt crack of dawn.

It just means real early in the morning. We have formation to go to the field at zero dark 30. It might mean 0315 or 0400.

Answer 6

it's the military's term for a 'dawn raid' - anytime between 3:00am to 4:30 am; supposedly the best time to catch your enemy while they're sleeping, tired, or totally unaware..under the cover of darkness.. like what the US special forces did when they got that al qaeda terrorist osama bin laden!

Answer 7

It means, if you're in the military and into astronomy, you will be overjoyed to get up before dawn to watch the sun rise.

Answer 8

4:00 am

Answer 9

Middle of the night.

Answer 10

early in the morning

Answer 11

Well before dawn. It's when you wake up in basic.

Answer 12

The first 30minutes after sun set

Answer 13

half past midnight

Answer 14

12:30 A.M.

Answer 15

term used when a solider returns home and isn't the same person he/she is like a zombie of his/her former self most likely caused by war its a state of depression and anger of killing people