As to the irony of civilian airlift taking troops to and from theaters of war (a observation on page 1), the US has been doing that for some time, decades even. When I deployed to the ME in 2004, it was on a chartered civilian jet with a few hundred other servicemen.
When I was assigned to NATO in the 90's, I was transported oversea on a chartered civvy flight out of Philly with a few hundred other servicemen bound for Europe.
That aircraft developed leaks in the AC unit that soaked the carpet in the first eight rows, but it got to each place (Rota, Naples, Sig) more or less on time.