First of all a little about what BCAA's do for you- BCAA's are needed for the maintenance of muscle tissue and to preserve muscle stores of glycogen (a storage form of carbohydrate that can be converted into energy) BCAA's also help prevent muscle protein breakdown during exercise. So in other words definitely worth it IMHO.

And on the other subject. Back when I was a young soldier I had little to no knowledge of working out, or weightlifting. My daily (yes every day) routine was.

Run 2 miles in under 14 minutes as a warm up.
4 sets Shrugs
4 sets bicep curls
4 sets tricep extensions
4 sets Barbell bench press
4 sets pull ups
4 sets lower back extensions
100 crunches
cool down was run one mile in 10 minutes

As you can see I was obviously overtraining and neglecting legs and shoulders (two very important body parts!) not to mention doing entirely to much cardio for any mass gain. Needless to say I never gained an ounce of muscle mass, and never got THAT much stronger. My endurance was good, and I was very lean but that wasn't what I was going for. Listen to what these guys are telling you because you are doing a lot of hard work in the gym so you should play it smart to see results from it!