The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study was to investigate how early childhood care (ECCE) professionals make sense of their lived experiences working in an ECCE Department of Defense (DoD) program in the Southern United States. In this study, I incorporated Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation to explore the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that play a role in an ECCE professional's decision to remain in their job. The central research question focused on the lived experiences of the participants, each of whom had 5 or more years of experience in the ECCE profession. Three themes emerged from the study: teaching is divinely inspired, program structure as a determinant of success, and healthy work environments. Overall, these themes indicate that intrinsic motivations played a more prominent role than extrinsic factors such as pay and benefits in an ECCE professional's choice to stay in their professional over the long term. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]