It's possible to rotate the H-bar to the opposite position, so you can have this center seat facing to the front. I used to call it "child punishment spot" and we used for some trainning stuff at my unit. It was just like a child punishment spot for instructor pilots as it was hard to evacuate in emergency and visibility is pretty bad. I doubt someone use it at real stuff. It's more commom to have it facing backward for troop commander. You also have a telephone-like PTT from a roof panel, so he can talk to the pilots using his combat gear.