The war had a profound impact on the country. Thousands of young men avoided conscription by emigrating illegally, primarily to France and the United States. The revolutionary Armed Forces Movement (MFA) began as an attempt to liberate Portugal from the Estado Novo regime and challenge new military laws which were coming into force. The laws would reduce the military budget and reformulate the Portuguese military. Younger military-academy graduates resented Caetano's programme of commissioning militia officers who completed a brief training course and had served in the colonies' defensive campaigns at the same rank as academy graduates. The war in the colonies was becoming increasingly unpopular in Portugal, and the military insurgency gained momentum.