“These agents have put their butts on the line to defend this Republic and the Constitution.”
No, that would be the people in the military. Unionized government civilian employees are NOT military. It’s the equivalent of stolen valor when they try to compare themselves to the true heroes who put their butts on the line for the Republic and the Constitution - the men and women of the US Armed Forces.
As far as risks, there are 76 listed deaths of fbi agents in the line of duty since 1908 according to the source below. 34 were by gunfire. Compare that to the risk of those who serve in the military (see link below). Over 8,000 military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.
Military => http://icasualties.org/
I served 8 years in the military as a naval officer, including one year in Vietnam during the Tet offensive and another 8 months off the coast on an LPH.
I spent 28 years as a foreign service officer including 22 years abroad. I served in Iran during the fall of the Shah and the rise of Khomeini, which including the overrunning of our embassy the first time in Tehran on February 14, 1979. I spent 5 years in Riyadh including during the Gulf War.
The idea that civilian employees of the USG don't risk their lives in the service of this country is ridiculous. The CIA and State Department have walls with the names of those who have lost their lives in the service of this country. FBI personnel have lost their lives as well as other law enforcement agencies.
You don't have to diminish the service and sacrifice of federal civilian employees to burnish those in the military. I have seen and experienced it from both perspectives. I have personal colleagues, military and civilian, who have lost their lives in the service of this country. They are equally heroic.