NATO designations are specified in Allied Administrative Publication AAP-6 (STANAG 3680) NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions, and marked (NATO) in this list. Entries specific to the U.S. and defined only in Joint Publication JP 1-02 are marked (US).

Times relative to the designation are indicated with +/−[Arabic numeral] after the letter, replacing -day or -hour with a count of the same unit: "D−1" (the day before D-Day), "L+9" (9 hours after L-Hour) etc.^{[citation needed]} In less formal contexts, the symbol or numeral may be spelled out: "D minus 1" or "L plus nine."^{[citation needed]}