New refused to follow an order that was against Army regulations AR 670-1, to be specific.
The UN flag was an unauthorized patch in an unauthorized place. The Army and Congress didn't have the courage to amend the regs and lacked the moral integrity to admit that they were wrong.
If soldiers are expected to refuse illegal orders, then it is incumbent on the Army to let the soldiers know which illegal orders are 'really illegal'. /sarcasm.
BWT, I wore the uniform and can only speculate as to whether I'd have the guts to stand up for what was right like New did. The easy thing is to go along to get along, but he didn't do it.