Contributor Jonathan McConnell is President of Meridian.us, a private security firm that primarily defends merchant ships off the coast of Somalia. He's a graduate of Auburn University, with a law degree from the University of Alabama. He served in the Marines as an Infantry Officer, and was deployed to Iraq in July 2006, and to the Syrian border in October 2007. He's been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat “V” and the Combat Action Ribbon, as well as the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.