After a soldier complained that his friend’s remains were taken to what appeared to be a “pet crematorium”, the Pentagon announced Friday changes to procedures for the cremation of slain U.S. troops.

It appears that, since 2001, the U.S. military has cremated some of the remains of U.S. service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in a Delaware facility that also cremates pets.

Although the Pentagon says that the facility had separate incinerators for animals and humans, the location of the facility in a warehouse district near Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, did not show the appropriate respect to those soldiers who have died while serving their country.

“The mere fact that they are in a facility that also performs this same service for pets is, in the estimation of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and, I daresay, almost all the men and women you see walking around this building in uniform today, not appropriate for their service and sacrifice,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, according to CNN.

The Army notified the Senate Armed Services Committee of a report that one soldier's remains had been cremated at a pet crematorium. The soldier was scheduled to be buried on May 20 at Arlington, across the Potomac River from Washington.

The military would only use, from now, cremation facilities attached to funeral homes, Morrell said.

“The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology. Those still serving have his commitment that this department will do everything it possibly can to adhere to the principle that the remains of all members of the armed forces must be treated with the dignity and respect that their sacrifice demands,” he told reporters.