This paper presents the problem that organized
bereavement acknowledgement, like that automatically given United States military
personnel and their families upon the death of a loved one, is currently not offered, in any
equivalent way, to federal employees outside the military, including those federal workers who, like military personnel, regularly place their lives in danger in service to the United States. The paper contends that the most tragic time in any person's life comes with the loss of a loved one, and therefore, federal agencies and their leaders should create the
bereavement policies and accommodations that are currently lacking for non-military federal personnel. The paper explains that such future policies would offer comfort and support to bereaved personnel and their families in their time of greatest loss and sadness by adopting specific bereavement policies and procedures equivalent to those of the military and, in their own way, appropriate to the particular government agency or entity.