By Sgt. Heidi Agostini, I MEF CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — She couldn’t stop smiling at him, even when he wasn’t looking. He was tangled up in her bubbly cheerful personality and smiled at her every time she spoke to him.
Both of them were soaking up the last few moments together before they’d go their separate ways again. They couldn’t even kiss or hold each other’s hand, much less hug. But when the crowd left, she snuck in a kiss on his cheek, and all he could do was sigh.
Nothing could keep the couple apart. Not even a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan, each at a different camp in Helmand province.
Staff Sgt. Jonadam Costilloe, currently assigned as the I Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) air liaison at Camp Dwyer, reunited with his wife of five months, Sgt. Jennifer Estrada, for his promotion ceremony held at Camp Leatherneck, July 1.
“We’re very fortunate to have commands and leaders who allowed us to be together for his promotion,” said Estrada, with the female engagement team, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines Regiment. “We haven’t seen each other since we arrived in Afghanistan and it’s very hard on the both of us.”
Costilloe and Estrada, both 27 years old, met while on active duty, stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., working in motor transportation.
“She couldn’t stand me,” laughed Costilloe, from Norman, Okla. “She was the dispatcher, and I could never get my tickets filled out correctly.”
“I held remediation classes almost every day with him,” Estrada said.
“That helped me in the end because I was able to get your attention,” said Costilloe, as he smiled at his wife.
This is the couple’s third deployment. Read more here