Complex sentence: Rated among the best tank battalions in the Army, the battalion was equipped with 54 new M3 Stuart, and boarded in San Francisco bound for Manila; the unit thus had the privilege of becoming the first U.S. armored units to serve overseas.
Split into simpler sentences: Rated among the best tank battalions in the Army, the battalion was equipped with 54 new M3 Stuart. The unit thus had the privilege of becoming the first U.S. armored units to serve overseas.