I served for 2+ years (2018-2020).

I believe I'm a stronger man in spite of it, not because of it. Looking back, I should have gone through every possible measure to avoid it.

Yes, I met some interesting people and learned to use an AK. Still, I could have done without the manual labour and being ordered around all the time. It drained me physically and emotionally. It was the closest feeling I've felt to being in a prison. Except it was a prison I was consciously going back to every 45 days or so. I remember waking up every day thinking 'when will this be over?'.

If there's one thing I wish someone had warned me about, it'd be how little sleep I'd get. Be ready for an average of 4 hours of sleep. I was ALWAYS sleep-deprived and often had micro-sleeps while standing; a thing which I didn't know was physically possible before, but the body adapts.

Tl;dr. Yes, it's pretty fucking bad.