(April 23, 2007)--Texas soldier Michael New, who refused to serve on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia, lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday.

The justices declined without comment to hear his case.

New was appealing his bad-conduct discharge from the US Army.

His father, Daniel New, calls the decision "the end of an eleven-and-a-half-year battle."

But the Bosque County resident says his son, a former Army medic, is "looking at options."

Michael New was supposed to be among a few hundred soldiers sent to the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia in 1995.

There, he was to help guard against the spread of unrest from other areas torn by ethnic turmoil.

But he refused to wear the UN insignia on his Army uniform.

He contended that then-President Clinton should have received congressional approval for the deployment to Yugoslavia.

That led to his bad-conduct discharge.

In his appeal, he argued he wasn't afforded all his legal rights during his court-martial.

Michael New is now a student at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

His father says the decision is "not going to affect his lifestyle."

He says his son's desire now is to "stay out of the press as much as he can."

Michael New joined the Army in 1993 in Conroe.

He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division and stationed in Germany when he defied an order to wear UN headgear and insignia.

Click Here For Michael New’s Web Site

Click Here For Supreme Court Web Site

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