While on the wolf hunt, Yousef (the driver) asks Tom Hanks' character (Alan) if he would have liked to have been a US soldier in World War 2. Alan replies "Yes, but I would have skipped the Pacific." This is a reference to Tom Hanks starring in Saving Private Ryan (based in Europe) and then later producing Band of Brothers and The Pacific for HBO.
On top of this, one of the brothers presumed dead was actually found later on as a prisoner and was returned home. Saving Private Ryan, on the other hand follows the mission of a band of 8 soldiers sent to save a lowly Private to console his mother's grief over the deaths of her other 3 children. The slight change in the plot, although not exactly true, helps to personalise the war by focusing l6lxvIe.