His explorations of the Sinai during the 1956 effort to block Gamal Abdel Nasser's takeover of the Strait of Tiran and the Suez Canal stood him in good stead in the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars.
Nasser blockaded the Strait of Tiran, denying Israel access to its southern port of Eilat, and called up 100,000 reserves.