29 of the 30 people in the Naval Command Center at the Pentagon were killed that day. I'm sure that Sestak knew many, if not all of them. He was on the scene immediately afterward and refers to strength of human bravery - referring to the survivors and first responders. The phrase he quoted, "We will never forget" is exactly what the military tradition is about when it comes to those who died there that day.
Here is a link to an old, but relevant and poignant, article about some survivors of those members of the armed forces and/or civilian employees who were killed in the Pentagon that day. More civilians (70) than uniformed military (55) died at the Pentagon that day.
Headline: Pentagon family rallies behind attack survivors
Subheadline: Military's aid and comfort ease 9/11 survivors' burden
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
ARLINGTON, Va. — In the months just before her daughter Alexandria was born, Stephanie Dunn stopped coming to Arlington National Cemetery. She didn't want people to see a pregnant woman kiss a headstone. But now she comes often to section 64, a quiet corner overlooking the side of the Pentagon where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed. On a recent hot day, she propped Allie, now 5 months old, on the parched grass atop Navy Cmdr. Patrick Dunn's grave. The infant's tiny hand grabbed the smooth marble stone.
"That's Daddy," cooed her mother. She kissed her husband's headstone and strapped her daughter into the stroller Pat picked out a week before he died. It's blue and gold, the Naval Academy colors.
Walking amid dozens of markers reading "Sept. 11, 2001," Dunn is among friends. "He came to our engagement party," she says of one. "We were at his house for dinner," she says, pointing to another.
Almost half of the 125 people who died inside the Pentagon, and three Navy veterans among the 59 killed aboard the hijacked jet, lie here. They remain in death, as in life, part of the military family. So are those they left behind. Nearly a year after the terrorist attacks, the military's fiercely held tradition of taking care of its own has proved a powerful salve for the wounds of Sept. 11.
There's an unspoken perception among civilians that "the military expect to die," says Teri Maude, whose husband, Army Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, 53, was the highest-ranking officer killed at the Pentagon. "But that's not true."
Especially not for people sitting at a desk in the fortresslike Pentagon.
Cmdr. Marty Martin appeared at Stephanie Dunn's Springfield, Va., townhouse at 3 a.m. Sept. 12. "There was a knock on the door, just like in the movies," she recalls. Accompanied by a chaplain and another officer, Martin introduced himself as her casualty assistance officer and told her what she already knew: Pat, 39, was among the Pentagon missing.
In the weeks that followed, Martin was with Dunn up to 12 hours a day. When Pat's remains were identified, Martin broke the news. He claimed Pat's mangled uniform when Dunn couldn't bear to see it. He planned and, as commander of the Navy's ceremonial guard, conducted Pat's funeral in view of the charred Pentagon. He explained benefits and filled out forms. When Allie was born, when Dunn's father had a stroke, when she needed groceries, Martin was there.
"My husband knew the Navy would take care of me. 'Once a shipmate, always a shipmate,' " says Dunn, 32, one of eight Pentagon widows who had babies after Sept. 11. "It makes me feel bad that (civilians) don't have the resources I have."
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002-08-20-pentagon_x.htm
So, no I don't understand why you perceived this as gibberish - i.e., unintelligible, meaningless blather.
Perhaps it's too succinct - but most military/vets I've ever known don't go on about their own bravery or heroism, so Sestak didn't go into detail about what he did upon returning to the Pentagon that day, but generally referred to the human bravery he saw that day.
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