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Torbert said the human and pet crematories are in adjoining buildings on the same property but have separate entrances. A sign advertising pet cremation services is in front of the Friends Forever office, but there are no signs on the building housing the human crematory facilities, which Torbert said are not used for cremation of pets.

''We do a lot of work with the military,'' he said. ''We service them very well.''

Gates has directed David Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel, to conduct a review of Defense Department policies and practices governing the cremation and handling of remains of service members.

To date, Dover's port mortuary has processed 4,608 remains, but the Pentagon was not immediately able to say how many of those were cremations, and how many were handled by either Pippens or Torbert rather than service members' hometown facilities. Lt. Chris Sukach, spokeswoman for the Dover base, had no immediate comment and referred questions to Pentagon officials.

Klotz said the military has used the two Delaware facilities since about 2001, and neither one, on its own, can meet the Pentagon's needs in the time required. He said he plans to go to Dover on Saturday to speak with officials about the matter.

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Associated Press Writer Randall Chase contributed to this report from Dover, Del.

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