Rockbridge Response organized a protest to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Lexington, Virginia to speak at the Virginia Military Institute's commencement exercises. Over 130 protestors lined the Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Maury River, which leads into the town of Lexington, where the VMI campus is located. Organizations from around the Virginia region came to Lexington to lend support to Rockbridge Response's effort, including the Augusta Coalition for Peace & Justice, Plowshare Peace Center (Roanoke)and the Virginia Antiwar Network. Response from passerbys was overwhelmingly (and somewhat surprisingly) positive given the relatively conservative nature of this region of the state.