On the final day of the A to Z Challenge we find ourselves at the letter Z

Z is for Zulu 

One thing every military family can relate to is the struggle of dealing with multiple time zones. Early in my husband and my marriage while he was deployed he was on Afghanistan time, I was on eastern standard time, and we had family and friends spread across time zones from Guam to California (going east to west).

One of the most confusing time zones for me was Zulu time. At least when I knew someone was in Germany they would be ahead of me, and those in California would be behind me. And every time I heard Zulu time I would wonder where you could even find a Zulu. So I did want any adult would do…I googled it. And it turns out Zulu time is the time at 0 degrees longitude along the prime meridian. You can google Zulu time to see what the current time is at Zulu or you can visit timeanddate.com.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that everything in the military is on a 24-hour clock. So, not only would have I have to translate from military time to am/pm time, but then I would have to figure out the timezone difference. It used to drive me crazy. But now I find it more entertaining than anything else. 

To help keep some of the most important time zones clear in my mind, we used to have multiple clocks in our kitchen each set to a different time zone. So while my husband was in Afghanistan I would know what time it was for him. It was better than trying to do time math all the time. 

Thank you so much for joining me on the A to Z Challenge, if you missed any day I will be sharing a round-up off all the days very soon! As well as a special list of the ABCs of Military Life completed by my husband!