Joe Direnzo CG ( Retired ), RDC Public Affairs Officer
HIS IS A STORY of how ideas can be realized in the Coast Guard through teamwork and effective communications . It begins with the CG Ideas- @ Work initiative and two industrious Auxiliarists COMO Vin Pica ( D1SR ) and Clint O ’ Connor ( D7 ). Both with an idea on how to modernize an annual CG support mission that requires the inspection of designated private aids to navigation ( PATON ) and report any discrepancies to the CG , as part of their overall responsibility of keeping our waterways safe and navigable .
CG Ideas @ Work is a “ crowdsourcing ” platform that allows Coast Guard service members , civilian employees and Auxiliarists to propose innovative ideas that impact safety and / or performance . Users can post their ideas and vote or comment on others .
One of the recent crowd-sourcing challenges from CG Ideas team asked the Coast Guard workforce , how they could utilize mobile computing in the execution of their missions .
Both Commodore Pica and Clint O ’ Connor have been Auxiliary qualified aids to navigation verifiers for many years . Both submi�ed to Ideas- @ Work , individual innovation ideas that recognized that the current manual and paper intensive inspection and reporting process for the PATON support mission could be dramatically improved using cell phones and / or tablets as data collection devices while PATON inspections .
18