The buddy system is simple:

You are assigned someone. This person is your buddy for the defense. You try to keep them alive, and they try to keep you alive. This way, everyone has someone trying to keep them alive, and hopefully everyone will be kept alive.

At the very least, you wont have 1200 stat sh's being pounded on by 4 raiders for 3 rounds, and no one notices until the 1200 is dead.

Cin