"shaking every step of the way"

"Goody Nelson continued to chortle long after Hazard had gone.  It was still a world full of wonder.  Wildman, for chrissake!  Had he or Clell -- or even Jack, who had been the man's squad leader, after all -- been remiss in not spotting seeds of greatness in the fast little fuck?  No.  There was never any way to tell beforehand.  Courage under fire came from all sorts, the smart as well as the smart-ass, the steadfast as well as the moral coward.  Winners and losers.  The Army had actually commissioned studies of Medal of Honor winners, their behavior before the act, trying to find patterns or tendencies.  It had been a waste of taxpayers' money.  Great physical bravery was often nothing more than a nervous response to a desperate situation, the unthinking, impulsive act of a man who thought he had nothing to lose.  On the face of it, you'd expect somebody like Willow to be a candidate for heroism, but you'd be wrong.  Willow would do fine, he guessed, but Jack was cursed with the worst disease a man could carry into combat: a good imagination.  Fear came easiest to those who could clearly imagine all the horrible possibilities.  Most heroes were dull clods.  People like Clell were the real heroes, scared shitless but still able to function with professionalism, still doing whatever had to be done.  Men like Clell, and him, too, had earned their medals the hard way, shaking every step of the way."

-- Nicholas Proffitt, Gardens of Stone