I have a small settlement established at the Drive-in, with only two settlers (one farms, the other runs a supply line...so there's usually only one person around). The other day when I fast-traveled there, there were 3 Minutemen (unnamed except for the "Minuteman" title) just standing around. They appeared to have randomly spawned? I tried talking to them but all any of us appeared to be able to say to each other was "hey" "excuse me" "cough". They didn't seem to be part of my settlement, I didn't have the recruitment beacon active, and I didn't shoot off a flare or anything... do minutemen just randomly show up at your settlements occasionally? It was kind of odd.

The Minutemen go out on patrols like the Brotherhood of Steel does. The Minutemen patrols are far harder to come by than the BOS patrols though. The Minutemen often have a dog accompanying them as well.

It really annoys me that I'm the general of the Minutemen and the only dialog I get out of them is 'huh?' or 'hey'.

Ah ok, makes sense then I suppose. But yeah, you'd think they would at least use your title when addressing you. No respect.

I haven't yet figured out their pattern or anything like that, but I think the Minutemen patrols kind of just make a circuit around the map to all of the settlements. I've seen them near Croup Manor, Somerville Place, and the Abernathy Farm most frequently, but I've seen them around some of my other settlements as well. They seem to be getting more common as I'm moving through the game. I'm currently level 71 and I have every possible settlement unlocked. I've seen more of the Minutemen patrols between level 60 or so and my current level than I did in the entire game prior to this.

Do they actually do anything to help? In other words, do they help defend the settlement if they happen to be nearby during an attack? I am still fairly early in the game (only level 23 or 24, I forget), and haven't had any settlement attacks yet. Just curious.

Yes, they help defend it. Just yesterday I was at Somerville Place getting ready to head into the Glowing Sea when we got attacked by Gunners. The Minutemen helped out, and their dog even went running out to pin one down while one of the Minutemen guys went in for the kill shot. Not too long ago I was exploring Nahant right by Croup Manor and encountered a bunch of feral ghouls. A Minutemen patrol came running up out of nowhere and helped me eliminate them. That was pretty cool.

They can help, they'll attack any hostile enemy as long as it's within their range. They'll also often have blockades on the roadways that will come under attack and you can assist them. These blockades will have loot chest with a fair amount of ammo, making helping them worthwhile.

Interesting. I'm yet to encounter one of these blockades. I've only seen them out on random patrols. I'll have to keep my eye out for one of these blockades.