Preston Garvey is a sweetie

[Farsh-nuke]

He is the lone survivor of massacre, a naive true believer in a failed project.

I know that I will get Preston haters raging in the comments anyway so I'll address the common points here.

1. He makes you the general but asks you to do everything.

This has several levels to it.

First, when he names you general he legit explains it's just an empty title as he has nothing left to give you but the title. It's the equivalent of a penniless priest making you a saint. He literally explains the title is meaningless unless you earn the respect for it again.

Second, I can't believe I have to say this but Generals do occasionally lead from the front. I agree that it would be nice if there was the option to send brotherhood members on missions like how in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood you could send assassin's on missions and get money and supplies from it. That does not change however that if you look at the total war series generals are one of the players best units and frequently on military campaign. Generals who actually do stuff is not a new idea.

Third, Preston may not do the fighting for you (though you can have him fight with you as a companion) but he does do work. He is the liason with the commonwealth who figures out the people who need help. Or do you think the four star generals of the united states (for example) are personally travelling to Iraq and Afganistan to find out what needs doing? Preston is your personal assistant arranging appointments for you so you don't have to walk blindly about the commonwealth hoping to sumble upon someone who needs help. Though I acknowledge many would like Fallout 4 better that way.

Fourth, Preston is a ptsd riddled survivor, He's a broken husk who was ready to get himself killed until you restored his faith. That's why he's a bit bullet shy. I think that's very reasonable.

Fifth, Preston asking you to do stuff is the game giving you things to do. The Brotherhood of Steel and the Institute also tell you to go places and do things and they can be obnoxious while doing it (looking at you, knight Rhys) why is Preston the only quest giver who gets hate for giving you quests.

2. He keeps telling you another settlement needs your help. 

Yeah and knight Rhys and Scribe Haylen keep sending you off to do missions aswell. The reason its okay is that you can ignore quests and there is rarely any time pressure to complete them so you gather a whole bunch of them up so you can do them as you walk by where they need to be done. I have legit been annoyed to be halfway across the map, find a settlement and realise I need to wait for Preston Garvey to give me the quest.

3. Insert insult about Preston Garvey here.

This is a video game, I am completely fine with agreeing to disagree about this. I do however genuinely love him and he was the first follower I romanced. I think the writing and acting of him is great.