Not all Generals are created equal. There are multiple ranks of General.

In the US military we normally have one through four stars. During WWII we added a fifth star so that Eisenhower could have the equivalent rank of "Field Marshall" in the European armies.

I wish Nora could have been an ex-military like Nate, instead of a lawyer. Oh well ...

I wish, if I could have one wish, that we could train the settlers to be better soldiers (or Minute Men) like a certain quest from another Fallout where the Courier trained some Misfits. Then they wouldn't have to depend on us for every little scuffle.

Garvey makes is clear he wants you to take over and not do any general stuff himself as hes more of a fighter so I doubt its the case of him actually being a higher rank. Garvey cant think or strategize, ( and this is where im assuming my SS helping them would be, unless you RP a more fighter type guy ) probably resulting in the numerous people lost under his care on his way to sanctuary lol.

He's not a thinker, just a do er. Too bad he doesn't do anything rofl...

His constant quest spewing is just the mechanics keeping us busy while giving us something quest related to do every time. I think a help board or wanted board would have been a more realistic option, and they would be in every settlement. Either outside the limits or buildable like the bell, that way if you delete them or don't have it you need to manually go to places to see if they need help or the trader/supplylink type settlers can mention it like garvey does but only with the linked places.

Garvey is pretty all knowing when it comes to things happening in the wasteland.

If you think of him more as a "spy master" it actually starts to make sense.

After the SS gets through helping Sturges get everyone settled (making beds, water, food, etc) in Sanctuary, Sturges will thank you and tell you that you're more than welcome to stay here and it could be your home too, or something like that. I want so bad to cuss him out and tell him, "Look over there Sturges, that use to be my home (pointing at my house), I lived here way before you yahoos come along and now you tell me that I'm more than welcome to stay here". Are you [censored] kidding me!!! That's the one comment that gets underneath my skin more than anything that Preston says.

This is how I try to see it when I do a minuteman play through ( which is every play through, though not always with the minute men ending.) I haven't bothered to build walls in all my settlements but I do at least have a well established perimeter line of heavy laser turrets and missile turrets ( I always put a spawn point inside my house at the settlement so I don't get blown to hell by my own missile turrets

Right I'm like who the [censored] do you think you are Sturges, usually me and him are pretty tight, but this always pisses me off. I'm all for helping rebuild humanity and [censored], but it would at least be nice to ask me if I wanted to let y'all stay in my [censored] settlement.