Burr and his wife, Mary Jane, and their three children settled in the San Francisco bay area after the war, where he joined the army reserves and remained active in the Northern California chapter of the 101st airborne association.

He was a lithographer by trade which he did not enjoy very much. In the 1960's he received Special Forces training, earning a green beret and rose to the rank of major in the reserves.

In the 1960’s, Burr was active in his son Scott's boy scout troop and was on active duty with the Army Reserves and also the boy scouts one day while rock climbing where he slipped and shattered his tibia. He recuperated for 9 long months in the army hospital in San Francisco. It was soon after this that he was recruited by the CIA to be a paramilitary specialist in the secret war in Laos. He left for CIA training and Southeast Asia in 1966.

Burr found his calling in Southeast Asia, assisting a hill tribe known as the Hmong fight to save their country from communist rule. He used his WWII training to its fullest. He loved the children of Laos and taught the Hmong children English in his spare time. He continued his Army Reserves commitment while in Southeast Asia and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel.

He lived in Laos until 1974, returning to the states and ultimately being reassigned as the CIA’s liaison officer to the first newly formed Delta Force. He trained for two years with this cream of the crop military unit and took part in their failed mission in 1980 to free American hostages held in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. He returned safely from that mission, and during the debriefings the following week was proud to tell his family that he had met President Jimmy Carter.