>>63900170
>In Soviet times, the conscript army wasn't really that different from prison. Many men went through both. Ended up being humiliated and basically used as forced labor both times. Or worse.

I would like to add that each of the USSR republic's had their own armies and managed them all in their own way. Everyone did 2 years but not everyone did 2 years of prison like the Russians.

My dad described his as "a fun waste of time that was overall neither good nor bad, it didn't hurt but I could have been doing better things without it."