Oh yeah, it was a mix of body horror, the brutalities of war, the unconscionable weight of leadership, and happy fun time seagull antics.
The time limit was 2 hours or you got stuck. And that happened in the first book to emphasize “kids, this is real.”
Did they? This was probably after the Tobias almost kills himself out of depression but then accepts his hawk body arc, so I can’t imagine why they thought it was okay to try and traumatize him again.