Staying in a hole for years seems weak to me. Pretty much everyone else in that bunker wanted out. He sent out people so he should not have needed us to show him things were ok enough to come out and see the sun.
What is to gain from leaving? The original objective was to save people from themselves, aka mass destruction weapons. The BoS really did not want to fight people, because in doing so, they are bound to use the weapons they collected therefor reversing all they have worked for. This would send out a message that proves the BoS's morals wrong. So, I honestly believe they said [censored] it, our opinion and meaning means nothing to others so lets die out in a hole.I mean didn't the first leader of the BoS rebel against the United States a few days before the bombs fell? I forget the reason why but I assume it was because he did not agree with the nuclear holocaust, there for starting the BoS so that he could stop this from happening twice, granted it ever will. So turning into peace guardians has completely backfired in a sense that it has lead them to fight the NCR, super mutants and the Enclave(Which is understandable since the sort of rebelled against the Enclave before the bombs dropped).The BoS just fell apart overtime and now they have turned into little wrecks like Elder McNamara and his group. So basically I don't see them as weak, they just are giving up slowly and going out guns blazing will go against their original goal, give them a bad name, and wouldn't accomplish anything really.
(Styles,Yes he sent out people, but you forget when the people he sent out on those other missions to Nellis, Black mountain, and REPCON did not come back, he ordered the ones who had the right reports to stay put. He was being cautious, and rightly so, he had no idea why they did not come back, or the ones who were looking for the spare parts, that is why he used the Courier instead, the Courier knew about the dangers out there, and could plan accordingly for them, and it worked well, very well, they fixed the bunker, and lifted the lockdown. Where if Hardin did his coup, the bunker would still be in bad shape, remember that.....
Roughneck, i'm inclined to agree with you to a degree. First Maxson was appauled because they were testing FEV on soldiers who's brains who not scooped out to be used on brain bots, killing the scientists who worked at Mariposa. Then after Radioing he and his entire unit was in desertion, but nothing happened, because of that, he ordered all the Families of the remaining scientists and soldiers into the base, then the bombs fell. A few days later, a Sargent in power armor got rad readings around the base so they could bury the scientist bodies, and then a few days later, they sealed the base, and left on an exodus to Lost Hills, suffering many Casualties on the way there and arriving in Nov 2077, later forming The Brotherhood of Steel. While things are falling apart, that i agree on, i know they will not give up, they will rebuild, it will take time, provided they can get their heads out of the sand.)