Also..
If you get a new merc to follow you are they the same level as you or do they start out at a base low level? I been using boone and I've never even seen him level up but I saw the issues that veronica has. Apparently she doesn't seem to level with the player or something, some kind of script issue.
So that got me thinking if that happened to boone because like I said, I've never received a msg telling me that he has leveled.