Arlington National Cemetery always has seemed to reflect perfectly the nation's regard for veterans -- formal, respectful and dignified.

But behind its solemn facade, we now know management of this national treasure has been atrociously sloppy.

This realization comes as a painful shock and an unnecessary burden for families who thought their loved ones were properly buried there.

It turns out that years and years of carelessness have led to thousands of unmarked and mismarked graves. Cremated remains in urns with no identification have been accumulating for years.

And all the while those in charge looked the other way.

What did they think? As long as nobody else knew, what was the problem? The dead can't complain, right?

But now the truth is out and there's a scandal.

While people responsible for this fiasco may be disciplined, remedying this situation seems extremely difficult.

Identifying cremated remains and marking graves correctly is something that needs to be done immediately, regardless of the complexity of the task. The veterans whose remains have been entrusted to the government's care deserve that much.

Apparently, the cemetery always had used index cards to identify graves. For the past 10 years, however, Arlington officials were supposed to be implementing a multimillion-dollar program to digitize its records.

That effort apparently is what helped bring this scandal to light. Records can't be digitized if they weren't kept in the first place.

The estimate of incorrectly marked graves is now up to 6,600. Just last month, an investigation by the Army Inspector General found 211 graves improperly marked on a small portion of the cemetery.

Back in 2005, urns with cremated remains were found in a cemetery landfill. It's unbelievable these problems went unchecked for so long.

Apparently, the Army hadn't reviewed any contracts or performed any audits of Arlington in a decade. Perhaps Army officials thought, like everyone else, if things look that great on the outside, they must be fine on the inside as well.

But that is no excuse. The superintendent of Arlington and his deputy superintendent have been forced to resign and the investigation is continuing.

Of all the cemeteries in the country, Arlington is the one people assume would have the best system for properly caring for graves and remains.

Everything about it, from the well-kept grounds to the military funerals to the constant vigil kept at the Tomb of the Unknowns suggests a perfect place to honor our fallen heroes.

Now we find that some of our soldiers' remains probably would have been better kept at their hometown cemeteries.

People bury their loved ones at Arlington to honor them. This scandal needs to be resolved as soon as possible so that honor can be restored.