I can't say without the situation. I can say that if we had a shortage at the base or had an incident and they were calling all hands on deck, that would mean that I, as an environment officer, could be helping stock shelves, or I could do other things. I need more context about what is being referred to in order to be able to tell you.
Obviously, the department should not be directing contractors to do things that are outside of their contracts. It does happen, and they do treat them like employees.