To me, the Gunners seem more like the Survivalists from The Postman than they do any mercenary group. The obsession with army gear, the tribal system of tattoos, the starting fights just for the thrill of it.
The problem is, the way they are portrayed doesn't match what we're told in the loading screens. Which more goes to show Bethesda's continuing stupidity in giving us spoliery lore-dumps in a frigging loading screen. I want to discover and play in the gameworld Bethesda, not have it explained at me in text with a a helpful 3d model.