Granted I only have 15 years civilian service at a couple different military installations, but I haven't had much use for folks higher than Lt. Col. I haven't met a Colonel. or higher who wasn't a political animal in the extreme. Certainly on the field of battle things are different, but administratively they stink.
The Colonels that you dealt with must have been non-combat arms. As an Air Defense Artillery officer, I had the utmost respect for virtually every officer that I dealt with. Sure, there are always exceptions, but they didn't blow off the administrative part of their jobs.
Truthfully, I didn't have much use for most of the civilians that I dealt with, in Germany or the US. If all of the "i's" weren't dotted, or the "t's" crossed, the civilians that could quote chapter and verse of their administrative regulations gummed up the works, with little or no regard for the troops they were tasked with supporting.
As I recall, there was one civilian who really did a great job while in my section. I married her five years later.