I admit I didn't see it, but I've read mixed things about it. Some said that it didn't trash the soldiers, but it trashed the military leaders.
Either way, Spielberg's a wet noodle.
It's been recognized by many as one of the most pro Military films of the modern filmmaking Era (post mid 1960s). If someone who has seen it agrees with the assesment you've heard about it I'd love to hear it.
The opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan, the storming of the beaches, is probably one of the most realistic and nail-biting action sequences ever filmed. Absolutely brilliant. I thought the plot dragged a little in places, but his essential point of the movie, as at the end, he panned over the graves of the US soldiers, was that those are real men under there. Men who had lives back home, and plans for after the war, but never went back home. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it by revealing the way he gets this point across, but it's IMHO, his best movie, and one of the best war movies ever made. It's a brilliant movie, and well worth watching.