CHICAGO -- When a group of Indiana firefighters traveled to the Gulf Coast to help in the rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they thought their skills in rescuing people would be put to use.

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But two firefighters came back to Portage because they learned their real skills weren't needed, NBC5's Phil Rogers reported.

In a document that went out from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency asked for firefighters with very specific skills and who were capable of working in austere conditions. When they got to a center in Atlanta, they found out their jobs would be public relations.

"Our job was to advertise a phone number for FEMA," said Portage Assistant Fire Chief Bill Lundy. "We were going to be given shirts and hats with a phone number on it and flyers, and sent to shelters, and we were going to pass out flyers."

Lundy and Calhoun said they don't want to bash FEMA or its mission, Rogers reported. They said they only want to help, and that there were plenty of other firefighters in the room who felt the same way.

"There was almost a fight," said Portage Assistant Fire Chief Joe Calhoun. "There was probably 700 firefighters sitting in the room getting this training, and it dawned on them what we were going to be doing. And then it got bad from there."

Lundy and Calhoun's first task was an eight-hour course on sexual harassment and equal opportunity employment procedures, Rogers reported. Neither firefighter would be involved in technical rescues of trapped people or any of their other specialties.

"We're trained in tactical medicine," Lundy said. "We weren't being used for that. We were being used to hand out flyers."

Their boss, Portage Fire Chief Tim Sosby, said he was only too happy to loan out his two men, but thinks they were right to come back home.

"It seemed like an incredible misuse of valuable resources," Sosby said.

The two didn't come home right away. They waited 24 hours, hoping their real skills might be used, not only did their assignment never change, they were never told to go anywhere, Rogers reported.

"We couldn't see ourselves sitting in the hotel while there were people asking for help," Lundy said.

For now, the two firefighters are back home, but said they are still anxious to help.

"I think both of us would go back in a heartbeat," Lundy said. "Both of us still have our bags packed."