Ron Barr and Sports Byline USA LIVE from Iraq

Our five man VIP sleeping quarters was in a trailer on the Al Faw Palace grounds next to the water. We spent the day doing more meet and greets and accepting more "thank yous" for coming. After awhile you just give up and simply say "thank you."

My concern was being able to get a satellite signal half way around the world to San Francisco for the first of three broadcasts of Sports Byline USA. I won't bore you with how big this challenge is, but we were working with the best and brightest in the military in broadcast technology. I was also very pleased to see we would be working out of a new, large studio at the Al Faw Palace. It was opened in November for General Petriaus. The Sports Byline show setup went well, a large audience of soldiers were on hand and we had a great opening night of sports stars for the soldiers to hear and talk with. Ed, DeBartolo, Chris Berman, Tiki Barber and Pete Carroll were set to join us. I was opening the show with Randy and Spencer, former 49ers, and their owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. I was jacked when the show's opening music ran. Then I said, "Across the country and around the world, we've got you on America's sports talk show, Sports Byline, and welcome to our first show from Baghdad, Iraq and the Al Faw Palace." As I was saying that, the first of five loud explosions took place. The first one surprised me, but I continued with my opening comments. After the second and third explosions, I knew we were under a rocket attack, but I kept going with my opening comments. Being a pilot I've been trained to multi-task, and so while I was talking I was looking to see if any of the studio soldiers or military broadcast personnel were diving for the floor, as we had been told to do under such a circumstance, or looking to see if they were "getting the hell out of dodge" and heading to a bunker. Doing neither, I kept going, but you do wonder whether the next explosion(s) are going to be in the middle of your studio. You could hear the whistling sound of the incoming rocket fire and they were getting closer and closer. It finally ended as we went into our first commercial break. Everyone was surprised and I even surprised myself a bit by how calm and focused I stayed during the attack. I like to think that comes from my years of experience, focus and my piloting background. It was a hell of a way to kickoff our Iraq broadcasts. The rest of the show went flawlessly and was a hit with the troops.

The reality is that we are in a war zone, and while it had been some time since Camp Victory had had a large and sustained rocket attack, it was a vivid reminder to everyone that we are in a dangerous place and that the soldiers face these dangers everyday. The bottom line was, five of the missiles landed just beside out sleeping quarters and the attack killed five people and injured eleven others. Timing is everything and had we been at our sleeping quarters, there's a good chance we could have been hurt or killed.

Not to make light of the incident, but there were some interesting stories to come out of the attack. A band, In Soul, was also staying where were. The lead singer, a talented 25 year old woman who had never been out of the United States before, was sitting on the toilet when several of the rockets hit in the water behind the ladies latrine. I asked her what her reaction was and she said, "It scared the s**t out of me." I can see that. A male member of the band was taking a shower at the time of the attack and he immediately ran out of the shower, with nothing on but a panicked look on his face, and in search of a protective bunker. A group of soldiers who had been on patrol watched the first rockets fly over their heads and land right behind them, and made a wild dash for their armor protected humvees. One soldier said that the humvee holds four, but we had six in it. Randy Cross said, "It looked like a clown car." In the face of war and death, a sense of humor is important, and at times even necessary.

Day two in Iraq is certainly not one any of us will forget.