"After the war, Sam joined the ranks of U.S. intelligence, tasked with containing communism and maintaining the balance of power in Europe. Sam was a student at Columbia University, where, as an officer in OSS (Office of Strategic Services), he studied Russia and Russian history. He became fluent in Russian and German and later spoke other languages as well. Despite his intelligence and accomplishments, Sam never obtained a college degree, though later in life he received various honorary degrees. In the 1950s, now a major, Wilson worked in Germany as a spy, a job that not only put his life in danger, but placed extraordinary pressure on his family, who traveled with him. Nevertheless, by the 1950s, Sam's career had established a pattern: he would travel across the globe, while also working for long stretches in the United States. Over the course of his career, he served at various military posts, including Fort Bragg, Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Benning. In the early 1960s, Colonel Wilson worked with Ed Lansdale in Washington, D.C., to formulate the United States' counterinsurgeny doctrine. In Vietnam, Sam would help implement this doctrine. Sam believed the war against communism could not be won in Vietnam without the support of the local population. Winning the "hearts and minds" of civilians, therefore, was essential to victory. Eventually, Sam was put in charge of pacification efforts in Long An province in 1967. He served in that capacity for several months before returning to the States in late 1967 to teach Special Forces at Fort Bragg. Decades later, Sam served as a commentator for Ken Burns’s critically acclaimed documentary on the Vietnam War."