Fred L. Ray is the president and CEO of CFS Press, Inc. (phpstack-963782-3516154.cloudwaysapps.com), and author of several books on flood and swiftwater rescue. He is a US Army veteran who spent most of his time in armored cavalry, during which he served two tours in Vietnam.
While researching the Civil War era as part of a family history project, he found that one of his great-grandfathers, Lieutenant Jason O. Patton, had commanded a Confederate sharpshooter company. This, in turn, led to an investigation of the sharpshooters themselves, and a book on the subject.
