Hank Fannin Partnership

Our Partnership

Hank and Lawrence We thought we knew alot about camping and surviving in the wilderness. After sending two days in the woods with Hank, we where humbled. We learned more in the first two hours than we had learned in the last 10 years. His knowledge, presentation and experience are so outstanding we knew we had to find a way to grow the partnership.

Hank has agreed to become our lead Wilderness Instructor and to join the Real Men Outdoors Board of Directors

Hank Fannin's Background

Hank has been practicing what people now refer to as “survival skills’ since his childhood days in Kentucky. Hunting,trapping and fishing for wild game was simply a way of life and sometimes a major contributor to his family's daily meals. Things that we now take for granted - like running water, air conditioning and heat at the touch of a button simply was not available or Hank's family couldn’t afford it. For years they cooked on a wood stove and heated their humble abode with a fireplace, using wood, which they had to cut and haul themselves or that fine KY resource -coal ( when they could afford it)

For water they carried it from a natural spring or later from a open well. For a hot bath they had to first heat the water on a wood stove and then pore it into a metal wash tub. Like most folks in those parts of KY they took things like that for granted and really never felt that they were poor or lacked for anything.

During Hank's time in the military he was fortunate enough to attend several of the USAF’shighly acclaimed Survival Schools –SERE (Survival/Evasion/Resistance/Escape) plus Jungle, Water and Desert and as an added bonus, POW Survival Camp. The specialized training that he received from these courses not only came in very handy during his 5 Vietnam tours with Air Rescue and the 20th and the 21st Special Operations Squadrons (Awarded Silver Star, 3 each Distinguished Flying Crosses, 5 each Air Medals) but they also laid the foundation and background for his present passion – teaching and passing on survival skills to future generations. While working as a commercial diver (35 years) he also devoted some of his free time as an assistant Instructor at the Pine Barrens Survival School in New Jersey where he was able to fine tune and add to his survival training knowledge and teaching skills.