Melanie Grooms always wondered if she could be "that type of person who could join the military."

"I can't picture myself doing something like that," the general management senior said. "It's not because I don't want to serve my country.

"It's because I don't feel capable of going through that kind of training. I am not the type of person to fight, and I don't know how I would handle that kind of situation."

As students consider the merits of serving, lawmakers are debating a proposal to make service mandatory for all U.S. citizens and permanent residents aged 18 to 26.

The two-year requirement, proposed by U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., doesn't discriminate along racial and economic lines.

"If our great country becomes involved in an all-out war, the sacrifice must be shared," Rangel said in a statement. "All who benefit from our society must share in the burden of defending it."

The proposal is designed to force all types of Americans to share wartime and peacetime civil responsibilities, shifting the historic burden from minorities and lower socioeconomic classes, Rangel said.

Rangel, who opposes war in Iraq, said lawmakers favoring the conflict might be less eager to go to battle if they felt their children would be affected.

Psychology sophomore Tanisha Newton said she doesn't feel compelled to defend the nation abroad.

"It isn't right to force people to do something they don't want to do - especially when it comes to losing your life," she said. "It's a question of ethics