Even though it is an incredible stirring and apparently militaristic moment in the film, the playing of “The Ride of the Valkyries” during the helicopter attack was actually an ironic commentary on the Vietnam War. In Wagner’s opera “Der Ring des Nibelungen, from which the music originates, the Valkyries appear at what appears to be the moment of victory but actually later turns into defeat. In much the same way the destructive victory of the helicopter assault would be followed by the eventual defeat in the Vietnam War.