Soldier Clarification

By legobil, in XCOM: The Board Game

Am I correct in assuming whenever cards (Skyranger, UFO Flight, Revive, different crisis and so on) say "Soldier" a MEC Trooper could be designated? The exception of course being promotion to elite, since MEC Troopers can't become elite, but also recruitment, since that is already prohibited in the Budget step of the Resolution Phase. And as such, the asset Future Combat and old missions such as Alien Abductions and/or the new missions Urban Strike, players cannot pick MEC Troopers (exception, where the Meld Reward says to recruit MEC Troopers) as Mission Rewards.

Also, is there anyone else who have a Mission Card (Remote Recon, North America) that looks like this? Big white space in top right corner where it looks like ink is missing in the background image:

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