Are they 'litter trained'?
I can see the thought behind the idea but I think that it's getting out of hand now.
Not THE Gulf war, but, I was on oil tankers during the Iran/Iraq war and was in the Gulf several times when the Iranians decided to attack vessels that were carrying non-Iranian oil. I got a 2 minute phone call home if the ship had received no personal mail for
anybody inside the previous month. Modern day, there are plenty of chances to contact home.
TBH, a message from someone whom I didn't know and (more to the point) didn't understand why I was there would have been wasted.