Originally Posted by
CargoOne
Why would anyone use it to transport civilians...
It is pefectly normal practice with air forces / military around the world to offer free flights to servicemen and dependents on a space-available basis - it is one of the perks of the job, just like for airline staff (only our seats are a bit better...). The US military has a whole (unofficial) website set up for this purpose, with detailed description on what to expect on various aircraft types (
Spacea.net). As mentioned earlier, the IL-76 double decker seat kit (which I'm sure was used, there is no way 247 pax could have been accommodated otherwise), while perhaps not the most comfortable, is perfectly adequate for the purpose. However military operations by their nature do conform to different safety standards than civilian ones, priorities are elsewhere.