Pentagon Gouge - PHA & Metro Check heads up

Heads up for those of you in or around the Pentagon:

1. PRT season is coming. Is your PHA up to date? The annual Physical Health Assessment replaced the Navy's old five year physical. You're supposed to do it during your birth month so that the medical clinics are not swamped the month before the fall and spring PRT.

Well, in September I was driving across country doing a PCS move from Hawaii to DC, so I didn't get it done. I'm sorry to say I blew it off until now, and now I'm regretting it.

We just got our 8 week notice on taking the PRT in April and reminding us that we must have a PHA completed within the last year to take the PRT.

I am now learning the hard way just how difficult it is to get a PHA done in the DC area. One friend told me that there is only ONE guy in the Pentagon clinic who does PHA's. They only take reservations a month in advance, and apparently the morning the reservations for the following month open up, the phone lines are jammed.

Anyway, I'll let you know if I find any quick and easy ways to get this knocked out, but I encourage you NOT to wait if you are in need of a PHA.

Update 8/5/2009: It was nearly impossible to get a PHA scheduled and done in the Pentagon and was going to take multiple trips. One of my JOs told me that it was easier at Bethesda, so I went there to do it. Sure enough, Bethesda was a breeze. I made an appointment and was in and out of there in about an hour - PHA complete! Warning: Parking is a pain in Bethesda, so plan on arriving a good 30 minutes prior to your appointment so you can park and walk into the PHA clinic (it's on the second floor directly above the food court / right next door to medical records).

2. Metro Checks expire in two weeks. When they distributed the mass transit subsidy metro checks this time around, they told us that these metro checks EXPIRE on March 6th. If you have any in your wallet (like me), then you should stop by the Metro and load up your SmartCard before the metro checks expire.