Quote Originally Posted by INLAND44 View Post
The enemy sees the first flare of the match at night as it lights, which alerts him. The second flare as the next guy lights from it allows him to get his rifle ready. As the third guy lights and the match flares again, the sniper fires - bad luck for the #3 guy!

Sounds good, and maybe would work. But it is a superstition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_o..._(superstition)