It's people like him who remind Optimus to be kind and gentle. Is his refusal to take part in war naive? Yes it is, but we need that diversity of tactics to remind us of our goal, and not lose our kindness all together while battling those who would laugh in the face of it. This is his strength

Of course not everyone can be Beachcomber, some of the Autobots will have to kill to protect things we love. However that will never take away the value he has to the team, and to Optimus Prime especially. He is an example of the best of us, who we can be, what we are fighting for

He has no problem laying down his life to protect those he loves by stopping bullets with his own body, non lethally incapacitating decepticons, and hell, surfing into earth's orbit to save Optimus Prime (yeah i know that one is wild).

He is a unique bot, being a pacifist he refuses to fight, As he believes he will only create more destruction.  Some people might view this as weakness, they would be so very wrong. In truth, Beachcomber is one of the strongest of the Autobots, it is easy to destroy, it is difficult to protect.