Google searches for ‘draft age’ spike, Selective Service site crashes after Trump’s airstrike

Turns out that Donald Trump has the ability to inspire us after all. 

It just so happens that he’s inspiring Google searches about the draft age. It seems people are just the teeniest bit worried that the killing of an Iranian top general, Qassim Suleimani, might spark a war with the U.S. — and, perhaps, that those of prime conscription age might be forced to participate. 

This concern becomes particularly evident with a digital stroll over to Google Trends, which tells you what people are googling and when they’re googling it. It’s helpful to, say, see which state searched for Baby Yoda the most often.

Entering the term “draft age” and limiting the results to the U.S., we see a huge spike in searches beginning late Thursday. 

Image: screenshot / google trends

And people didn’t stop there. The Selective Service System, which handles draft registration, reported that its website went down due to the high volume of visitors.

The site was still unreachable at the time of this writing. 

But that’s OK, people are probably finding all the information they need about dodging the currently nonexistent draft on Google. 

Image: Screenshot / google Trends

For those who are curious, men — and only men — between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register for the draft. The last time the U.S. actually had a draft was in 1973. It was ended following opposition to the Vietnam War. 

Notably, this is not the first time there’s been a spike in Google searches for information about the draft age. April of 2017 shows a much higher peak than this week, for example. 

Image: Screenshot / google trends

Which, hey, kind of makes us feel a little better. After all, if there’s one thing as American as starting illegal wars overseas its figuring out ways to avoid having to actually fight them yourself.