WELLS HOLBROOK

Wells Holbrook grew up a city boy in Knoxville, but the call of the mountains was always there. After detours through North Carolina, Maryland, and Massachusetts, Wells enlisted in the US Air Force to become a SERE Specialist, to teach Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape to aircrews and others at high risk of isolation. He began a grueling training pipeline that ranged from the building fires in the rainy Olympic National Forest and turning green from seasickness in a liferaft in the Pacific off the coast of Oregon to sleeping in hobo encampments during urban evasion, sleeping in ice caves in Alaska, and parachuting from helicopters. He spent seven years as an instructor of global survival principles at the world-renowned US Air Force SERE school in Spokane, Washington. He led hundreds of students in remote training in the Selkirk Mountains of Washington and Idaho. There he was awarded a degree in Survival Instruction and the prestigious honor of an Air Force Master Instructor, representing 1000+ hours of instruction and excellent across-the-board evaluations.

In 2018, Wells transitioned from active duty to the Tennessee Air National Guard in Knoxville. He serves as the Non-commissioned Officer in Charge of SERE Operations, preparing the tanker aircrews for combat survival and evasion, water survival, and captivity conditions. Wells was the 2019 NCO of the Year for McGhee Tyson Air Base and the 2020 Air National Guardsman of the Year for the state of Tennessee.

As Wells was leaving active duty, he met Andrew Herrington and discovered Big Pig Outdoors and Team BUSAR. Sharing Andrew’s outdoor survival philosophies and ‘anti-reality-TV’ mindset, he knew right away he wanted to be part of the team. Wells became a BUSAR “Cobra” in the summer of 2018 and soon after achieved certifications as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, Technical Rescue, Swiftwater Rescue, and Open Water Rescue Swimming. In 2019, Wells entered the Physician Assistant program at South College and is currently finishing his clinical portion, graduating in December 2021. He intends to specialize in emergency and wilderness medicine, building on his years of experience teaching outdoors, guiding in the backcountry, and assessing students under challenging conditions.

Wells brings a passion for teaching, extensive experience in adult instruction and curriculum design, and a great desire to serve the community by spreading knowledge of safely enjoying the great outdoors. He lives in Knoxville with his wife and two small children, a dog, and two rabbits (friends, not food.)