The British army in 1989 was under-strength by 4,100 trained officers, mostly due to low retention rates of people in their early thirties. In the USA the Army and the Marine Corps missed their overall recruiting goals in 1989 for the first time in 10 years. An increasing number of least qualified people are being accepted into the services. The German army began shrinking 3 of its 36 brigades by nearly one-third because of few people of recruiting age and an extreme shortage of non-commissioned officers; in 1993, the German armed forces were reduced from 425,000 to 370,000, accompanied by abrupt changes in plans for restationing serving units.