The U.S. Department of Labor recently unveiled two initiatives aimed respectively at promoting the hiring of veterans and protecting the rights of applicants with disabilities: one is called the Good Faith Initiative for Veterans Employment (G-FIVE), the other Ensuring the Accessibility of Online Application Systems. Both are administered by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

G-FIVE recognizes federal contractors who employ and give advancement opportunity to veterans. Also, it reaffirms a commitment to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act and creates an excellent incentive for federal contractors to hire veterans.

The other initiative is designed to ensure that federal contractors and subcontractors provide equal opportunity to qualified applicants with disabilities, including disabled veterans, to compete for jobs when using an online application system. Electronic job application systems must be accessible to, and usable by, applicants who have disabilities, or the contractor must provide a reasonable accommodation that allows an equal opportunity to compete for a job.

The directives outlining these new initiatives, along with frequently asked questions, are available on OFCCP’s Web site, www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/index.htm.

VA, Monster Inc. team up

The Department of Veterans Affairs has partnered with Monster Government Solutions, a division of Monster Worldwide, Inc., a company that markets online employment services to employers and job-seekers, in an effort to help veterans find jobs with veteran-owned small businesses.

Monster, in partnership with VA’s Center for Veterans Enterprise, is allowing veteran-owned small businesses to post job openings for veterans, including service-disabled veterans for 60 days, twice as long as for other employers, for the same price as the shorter posting.

To participate, veteran business owners must be listed in VA’s online Vendor Information Pages maintained by the department’s Center for Veterans Enterprise at www.VetBiz.gov.

Documentary debuts here

The documentary Leave No Soldier, a dramatic look at the dynamics of activism by two generations of U.S. war veterans, will premiere at the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival, with a screening at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Columbus Theatre Arts Center, at 270 Broadway in Providence.

The film tells the story of impassioned journeys by two communities of American war veterans who carried a military oath from the battlefield to the home front. The two groups are divided by their politics, but united in their devotion to dead comrades and their commitment to leave no fallen soldier behind.

In 2006, the third year of the Iraq war, Rolling Thunder and Veterans for Peace each undertook a journey of remembrance, protest and reparation. In very different ways, each group set out to redirect their grief and rage into advocacy for soldiers at war overseas and for wounded warriors at home. Occupying opposite sides of the political spectrum, both groups felt betrayed by their government and vowed that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.

The filming of Rolling Thunder’s motorcycle procession to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington, D.C., makes a powerful statement of protest against the government’s inattention to returning warriors. This is contrasted with Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War marching along the devastated Gulf Coast repairing houses in solidarity with survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

For more information on the film, visit www.leavenosoldier.com.

To find out more about the film festival, which runs Tuesday through Sunday at several venues, go to www.film-festival.org.

Look up for Leapfest

•The Rhode Island National Guard will host its 26th annual Leapfest international military parachute competition on Saturday at the University of Rhode Island, in Kingston. An opening ceremony featuring the 250 participants will be held at 7 a.m. at the URI sod farm on Plains Road, just north of the Ryan Center. The best spot for viewing is behind the West Kingston Elementary School, on Route 110 (Ministerial Road). A hospitality booth there will be staffed by members of the 101st Airborne Division Association. For more information, call (401) 275-4615.

Other events

•A Salute to the Troops event, to benefit the Rhode Island National Guard Relief Fund, will be held at the Highland Rod and Gun Club, 66A Plainfield Pike, Foster, on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The event, cosponsored by VFW Post 2929 and American Legion Post 64, will feature food and refreshments (but ByOB) and entertainment by country western singer Rebecca Snyder. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from Gary Maddocks at (401) 741-9094.

•One of the Rhode Island National Guard’s oldest units, the 103d Field Artillery Brigade, is being deactivated. The 103d Field Artillery Battalion, along with subordinate firing batteries A, B and C, will remain in Rhode Island.

The brigade will hold a reunion dinner in conjunction with its deactivation ceremony, and all present and former members of the brigade are invited to attend. It will be held at the West Valley Inn on Sept. 6; tickets are $35. Reservations must be made by Wednesday; call Raymond Petrin at (401) 275-4354, or e-mail him at raymond.petrin@us.army.mil.

Anyone wishing to share photos of the history of the 103d for a presentation to be made at the dinner should upload them to 103dfa.shutterfly.com, or mail copies to Specialist 1st Class Raymond Petrin, Armory of Mounted Commands, 1051 North Main St., Providence, R.I. 02904

•VFW

Amancio-Falcone-Gaccione Post and Auxiliary 8955 units will hold their annual picnic at the post home, 113 Beach St., Westerly, at 6 p.m. today. The monthly meeting will follow.

•Fleet Reserve Association

Blackstone Valley Branch 132 meets at 7 this evening in VFW Post 306, 171 Fountain St., Pawtucket.

•Marine Corps League

The Kent County Detachment will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in VFW Post 449, Providence Street, West Warwick.

•Military Police Regimental Association

The state chapter members will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Schofield Armory, 705 New London Ave., Cranston.

•Bristol Veterans Council

The council will conduct a Victory Day memorial wreath-laying ceremony at the War Memorial Garden next to the Burnside Building on Hope Street on Saturday at 10 a.m. A monument will also be dedicated to the men who served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. Merchant Marine vets and the public are welcome to attend. For more information call (401) 787-6763 or send e-mail to sskuba1@cox.net.

•Retired Enlisted Association

Narragansett Bay Chapter 79 will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday in VFW Post 4487, 52 Underwood Lane, Middletown.

•Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A.

Post 23 will celebrate its 80th anniversary with a dinner at 5 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Shriners building, off Broad Street in Cranston. Members, spouses, auxiliary and other JWV posts are invited, with $20 tickets available by calling commander Herman Wallock at (401) 781-1392.

George W. Reilly can be reached at VeteransColumn@verizon.net or by writing to The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, R.I. 02902.