I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a career that spanned the Cold War, Balkans and then the sandy unpleasantness. As others have said, specific operations such as Aden had a GSM, but for those that sat in RAFG/BAOR and tainted their shreddies every time they passed close to the inner German Border, to think that was in any way comparable with spending months without proper sleep, living on the roof of a FOB in Sangin under constant attack by small arms, IDF etc strikes me as a little bit 'grabby'.
You spent 3 years on the p1ss, came home, probably with a tax free car. Your colleagues have a far, far, far, reduced prevalence of mental illness (NI and FI aside - read note above re GSM's) - That is what you should be grateful for.