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I was a big fan of the Band of Brothers series from about ten years ago. For those that are not aware, HBO has been running The Pacific, Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks’ 10-part mini-series covering the Pacific theatre of WWII. Not bad. Definitely a different feel than Band of Brothers, and definitely more of a Marine Corps feel to it. There is a more savage quality to it than BoB, in my opinion. The upcoming episode looks particularly unsettling.

Still, I just don’t like it as much as BoB. I don’t know exactly why, The Pacific is good. Maybe it’s because BoB was first. They seem to be doing more character development on fewer characters, probably because one of the criticisms of BoB was that it was hard to follow the characters because the development was too spread out. Even still, I find that I was more compelled by the BoB characters than I am with The Pacific. I don’t know, maybe it’s just that the European Theatre was always more interesting to me than the Pacific Theatre, that may have something to do with it. Another factor I’m considering is that, the more years I put between now and my military service seems to be softening my inclinations. When BoB came out, I was in the military, so that aspect of military camaraderie was more immediate for me, and The Pacific doesn’t seem to have as much of that. I don’t get the unit cohesion vibe like I did with BoB. Overall, though, I do like it and look forward to the last two episodes.

Anyway, I’d be curious on what others think who have been able to watch BoB and The Pacific.

I've been watching The Pacific every week since its debut and I tend to agree with you.
Whereas Band of Brothers focused on the group of men in the 101st, The Pacific seems to focus more on individual soldiers.

It's also much more depressing.

Sure, there are jokes and laughter (like the scene with the guy going to take a dump and a Jap soldier rushes at him while his pants are down) in The Pacific, but it's completely overwhelmed by the carnage, death and violence and overall hopelessness.
A lot of the camaraderie between the men that was felt in BoB seems to be missing in this show.

Overall it is good...definitely worth a viewing if you liked BoB and Saving Private Ryan.  The combat scenes are as brutal and awesome as any I've ever seen.
Just know going in that it is quite a bit different from Band of Brothers.

Just watched episode 9 last night, and that was the most unsettling of the bunch. All the battles up to the Marines hitting Okinawa were on tiny little islands with no settled population, just military personnel. Okinawa had a well-establiished civilian population, so right away, without even seeing the episode, your imagination over the horror doesn't have to go very far.

You're right, there isn't the comaraderie and feel of unit cohesion. That is definately missing. I almost get the feeling that if it weren't for the fact that these guys were stuck together, they wouldn't be able to stand each other's company.

Then, that's just the Pacific vs. Europe. The guys in Europe had a more positive experience overal. War is hell, but they could see more tangible moral rewards. They could see people that they were liberating as they went. The Marines in the Pacific just went from island to island, then eventually ended up in Okinawa where villagers were just trying to live their lives. Much different experience.