The article analyzes the motivation for military service of the soldiers the Lithuanian Armed Forces based on their opinion. It presents the theoretical approach to motivation for military service, emphasizes the significance of values in the process of motivation, identifies the expectations, based on V. H. Vroom’s expectancy theory, which determine the motivation of soldiers under continuous mandatory service. According to the analysis of the completed research, it is stated that the soldiers are only partly satisfied with the current motivation system. In addition, the results of the research confirm the hypothesis that the motivation for military service differs between volunteer soldiers and conscript soldiers.