CTF-70 Holds Another Round of Innovation Pitches

PACIFIC OCEAN

11.15.2017

Story by Charles J Scudella III 

USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76)   

“The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.”
While The Walt Disney Company’s CEO Bob Iger was talking about his own company when he said that, the same applies to the Navy. Now the Navy wants its deck-plate Sailors to help the service become more modern.
The Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) held its latest Commander, Task Force 70 (CTF-70) Innovation Pitch in the First Class Petty Officer’s Mess, Nov. 19.
Overall, 13 ideas were submitted for this round of judging. The judges included Rear Adm. Marc Dalton, commander, CTF-70, and Command Master Chief Darrell Timpa, Ronald Reagan’s command master chief.
“What’s the difference between a suggestion and an innovation? A solution,” said Dalton. “Everyone has taken that first step, and gotten out of your foxholes and are thinking outside of your work centers. Now talk it up. Talk to people about how this works, and it could make a difference.”
The panel was lead by Lt. Ryan Salcido, CTF-70’s innovation officer. Whose job includes leading these panels and helping the judges make recommendations for the 2017 Secretary of the Navy’s Innovation Award.
Salcido thinks the every Sailor has the opportunity to change the culture of not just the ship, but of the Navy.
“It’s great having a culture of innovation from the leadership, but the Sailors who deal with the problems on an everyday basis might see things or have insight that it totally different than someone of a different rank,” said Salcido. “So somebody who’s seen the problem on an everyday basis might have some innovative solution or idea that the leadership hasn’t thought about.”
For lower-ranked enlisted Sailors like Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Lance Shults, the innovation pitch gave him a platform to address a long-term frustration.
“The pitch gives junior Sailors a platform to speak about issues to the higher-ups that they may not even know about,” said Shults, from Mount Pleasant, Texas. “When I was a work center supervisor, I noticed things that didn’t make sense when it came to ordering parts and supplies. I started digging into the system and it shocked me. How could our system be so messed up and why hasn’t someone said something or done anything about it? The pitch gave me that chance.”
At the end of the day, the goal of the project isn’t to win an award; it’s about getting better as fighting force.
“This is ultimately about war fighting,” said Salcido. “Good ideas are great but it’s not about the ideas. This is us creating ideas so we can be faster, stronger and smarter, and at the end of the day, it’s about being more lethal.”

• Date Taken: 11.15.2017
• Date Posted: 12.27.2017 06:45
• Story ID: 260252
• Location: PACIFIC OCEAN