HOUSTON – Michael New, a Texas soldier who refused to serve on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia, lost an appeal of his bad-conduct discharge at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

"It's the end of an 111/2-year battle," said New's father, Daniel New. "Is there going to be another round? I don't know. We're looking at options."

Michael New, a former Army medic, had argued he was not afforded all his legal rights in the course of the court-martial that stemmed from his refusal to wear the U.N. insignia on his Army uniform in 1995.

He was supposed to be among a few hundred soldiers who were sent to Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic, to guard against the spread of unrest from other areas of ethnic fighting.

The justices, without commenting, declined Monday to hear his case.

New was attending classes at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville when word of the high court decision was released, his father said.

"It's not going to affect his lifestyle," Daniel New said, describing his son's desire to "stay out of the press as much as he can."

The Supreme Court rejection was New's second loss before the justices. In 2001, the court refused to take a similar review. New contended that President Bill Clinton should have received congressional approval for the deployment to Yugoslavia.

A seven-member military jury deliberated just 20 minutes before convicting him of disobeying an order and sentenced him to a bad-conduct discharge. New had wanted to be transferred to a new unit or honorably discharged.

"We're at a crossroads," said Daniel New, reached at his home in Bosque County in central Texas. "We don't know if we can sustain another legal battle. The sad thing about it is we were diverted from the real issues of national sovereignty and constitutional questions over to standards of review and due process."