Alright, boys.
I have given up on cACARS and CCFTracker. I am thinking after all the trouble shooting that it is likely an issue with STRICT mode being turned on and running MariaDB 10.3. I am unable to change those variables as I am on paid but shared hosting. I managed to find a copy of kACARS 1.0.1.5 using some internet wizardry (basically just using the Wayback Machine) and I have tested that, and it works perfectly with my server setup. I might try to reach out one final time to my host to get STRICT mode turned of, but at this point, at the very least, I have a working ACARS for my project.
Heritage and Avia, thanks so much for both of your help!