In August 1982, Staff Sergeant Estrada was ordered to drill instructor duty at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where he served with Kilo Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion. He was meritoriously promoted to gunnery sergeant in January 1984. In October, Estrada returned to Beaufort for duty with VMFA-251 as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Airframes Division. In November 1985, he was reassigned to VMFA-451 and deployed to the Western Pacific from January to July 1986 under the Unit Deployment Program. From January to March 1987, Estrada attended aircraft maintenance schools at Naval Air Station Cecil Field and Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida retraining as an FA-18 Hornet Hydraulic/Structural Mechanic.