Exactly.
This is why I see him switching sides. I think they are playing him as a honorable Republican who is not the most progressive sort and isn't going to be all in on what the Rebels are into but he is going to see the Empire for what it's become. He is someone who might have grown up knowing about how they won the Clone War and likely thinks the Jedi were elitist traitors and all of that. He is Liz Cheney in a uniform. Sort of anyways.
Nope. He's driven by pride, ego, shame, insecurities, a burning desire for recognition, and a dogmatic adherence to "the rules." He's an authoritarian to the core. That the authority he craves just chewed him up and spat him out makes no difference in his mind. He'll always come crawling back to it. Just like with his mother.
Real world explanation: Filoni didn't realize that Yularen was a Colonel in ANH and thought he was a Grand Admiral because of the white uniform, therefore made Yularen an Admiral in Clone Wars.
In universe explanation: Apparently an ISB Colonel does outrank a military flag officer, as outlined in the new Disney Canon novels.
I highly doubt that 1) Filoni didn't look up the character's background, 2) Filoni was the one and only person on the production who is responsible for checking into such things. The much more likely real world explanation is that they just thought it would be fun to use him as the recurring Admiral character the show needed for a few episodes. No real need to look much deeper into it than that.
Also; not to be "that guy" about it, but Navy and civil intelligence officers cannot "outrank" one another because they're not a part of the same hierarchy and chain of command. OK, well sure, they are technically because: dictatorship, but the only people that can give them both direct orders are of the "Darth" persuasion, so not relevant.
It would probably be more apt to simply say that an ISB Colonel has a better standing (and pay) in Imperial society than a Navy Admiral, possible more comparable to a Grand Admiral.
Maybe it's because I grew up around the military and it's just a given for those that know the culture, but I find it odd how many people are struggling with the concept of "person retires from the military and does something else."
Very few people serve right up until mandatory retirement age. Indeed for most it's the opposite way round; they serve the
minimum they need to get their pension and then out onto civvy street. More often then not for the higher ranks it's straight into a cushy senior position in civilian job, either working directly for or with the military, or for one of the contractors, as a reward for totally sticking by the rules and not once fiddling the books or looking the other way when the budget reports came through...
Especially true of officers since as soon as they feel like they're not going to be promoted up the ranks much more, there's no reason to stick around so may as well take the money and leave as soon as they qualify. There's only so many high rank postings after all, so beyond a certain point it's all dead-men's shoes. The mid-rank lifers are usually the ones too incompetent or too institutionalised to function outside the military, and they know it (you really don't want to know how incompetent you have to be to be kicked out of the military, it's honestly terrifying.)
