Distrust:
disbelief
doubt
misgiving
wariness
Promote:
advertise
promote
Reassuring:
comfort
encourage
inspirit
Welfare:
benefit
well-being
The correct answer is C. In "The Things They Carried," the group of men have to find and destroy certain tunnels. One man must to go into the tunnel headfirst, a role that none of them want to do. To decide, they pull numbers, with 17 being the unlucky one. Lee Strunk pulls number 17 (equivalent to the shortest straw).
Maybe google this one? You would probably get better answers