Oh, I'm sure you're in a real hurry to have that cleared up, Mike.
I personally NEVER understood how anyone could have been niave enough to think that the puppets of a Communist regime were worth meeting with. As far as I was concerned (both in 1970 and today) you could believe them less than you could Nixon and Kissenger - who I thought were lying when it could be established that they were breathing.
We blew Vietnam twice (both times before significant American troops were present). The first time was in backing the French attempt to retake their former colonies in the late 40s; the second, in the mid-50s, was in failing to establish a coalition government in the south (people from South Vietnam plus the Northern Catholic former French lackeys that became the South Vietmanese government).
For the record, I hardly think they would have needed any information a fucking LT could have given them. They were getting info on every move we made from our lackeys, er, allies in the South Vietnamese military.